


An Awkward Situation

by Serenity_Prime



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, I'm bringing the sin here, That's right, you guys love it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-06
Updated: 2017-02-08
Packaged: 2018-05-12 06:46:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 26
Words: 70,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5656519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Serenity_Prime/pseuds/Serenity_Prime
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which a Designer has the hots for Gabriel, Adrien is highly amused, and everyone will be kink-shamed GabrielXOC</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Tuesday was never a pleasant day. In fact it was horrible day for a spring day. The streets of Paris were clean and busy as always giving the springtime it’s ever romantic feel. In one of the buses sat the victim of the unpleasant Tuesday feeling. She was a young woman of twenty years of age. Her brown hair was neatly braided and pinned back to bring into like her bright blue eyes. She wore a simple black dress (her perfect LBD) with a blazer, some silk nylons, and black leather flats.   
She frowned a bit as she looked at the time on her phone. She was going to be early… again. It was a bad habit of hers to be early, which many had noted had to do with her rather strange predicament which not many understood. Being early meant dealing with Gabriel Agreste on a rather personal note, which she had hoped to avoid by any means necessary.   
Now why would she want to avoid him? Many in the company believed she hated the man’s personality, which was not far off. She found him irritatingly cold and for lack of a better word, salty. She would rather have Anna Winter tell her she was a no talent hack than deal with him. But the other problem was much more embarrassing. It was a deep secret of hers.  
She was lusting after the older man.   
Lusting in both the physical and emotional sense.   
She really couldn’t understand why such a horrid affection had begun. She knew when it had begun (It had been when he had smiled gently at her and complimented her dedication finding her sewing on beads at 1 in the morning ensuring that garment—a wedding dress—was absolutely perfect.) From there it had been absolute hell.   
Now Maria Rosario Balboa was headed to the Agreste Fashion house to see the finished product on a flapper dress which another group had been assigned, much to her disdain. Knowing the designers, they probably used fringe instead of beading it. She frowned as she realized she was at her stop. She had an hour and half before she actually had to do work. She walked off the bus and looked at the giant building before sighing and entering.  
“Bonjour Madamoiselle Maria!” The security guard greeted.  
“Bonjour Henri,” She said, “How are you this fine morning?”  
“I’m wonderful as always, and you are early as always.” He responded.  
“Well you know me, I get so horrified about being late I wind spending more time than I should here. Just to make sure everything is okay.” She replied with a laugh.  
“Maria!” She heard frantic screams.   
She screamed internally looking to her side to see a few of the designers working on the flapper dress staring at her with desperation.  
“What…?” She asked, keeping her voice even and devoid of emotion.   
“We need help!” Eponine cried. “The dress is ruined and we need a quick fix! Please!”  
“Let’s go see the damage.” She sighed.  
She followed Eponine, François, and Leonard to their work room and stopped when she saw the damage. There was no amount of quick fix tricks that could actually fix it.   
“What is going on here?” And there was death in the form of a very pissed Gabriel Agreste.   
Maria turned around keeping herself as emotionally detached as possible. She stared him in the eye and replied, “There has been an issue, sir.”   
He looked at the dress. His face was completely blank. The dress itself was missing several layers of fringe, with the hems being messy and the color being the complete opposite of what was asked.  
“How long did you have to make this dress?” He asked looking at the other three.  
“Three weeks sir…” François replied.   
“Maria, have it redone in two.” He replied in a low voice.  
“Understood.” She replied looking at the floor.  
“Looking at the floor isn’t what a designer does.” He said quietly enough for only her to hear.   
She let a small squeak escape her lips as her olive skin turned red. She had to mentally slap herself from creating other various, interesting, and rather vulgar scenarios from that comment alone.   
“I need coffee…” She muttered when she knew he was gone.  
“Maria…” She could hear Eponine call.  
“It’s fine. This is not the worst project that slave driver has given me.” She said.  
The image of Gabriel with a whip did not help the headache that she gotten.   
I need to start going to church again, she thought leaving the room.   
She took a deep breath and made her way to her station hoping to avoid any more contact with the man that was now plaguing her thoughts more than normal. She knew she had to keep herself in complete professional mode. She could cry and whine on tumblr later. No coworkers followed her and they didn’t even have her private accounts. Only her linked in, professional instagram, and Facebook profiles where available to them. Hell she even used different emails for them just in case.   
She was glad when she got to her work area. It was bare and only her project—which was thankfully untouched—sat there waiting to be presented. She grinned taking her dress form and setting it up. The point of their current assignment was to design something based on the roaring twenties especially in France. She had been given Gertrude Stein which in itself was relatively easy. She had been a fan of the woman since she was a teenager back in the United States. She had created a simple unisex pantsuit that could switch between formal and casual with the flip of the jacket. She was pretty impressed with herself.   
“Hey Maria….” She heard from the side.  
“Oh hi, short-stack!” She said when she saw who it was.   
Adrien Agreste was the son of said boss who was totally not on her mind at the moment.  
“Did you finish the suit?” He asked plopping himself on a nearby chair.  
“I did. I’m surprised the old man let you come in today.” She said.  
“I’m only here for the morning. In the afternoon I’m gonna go with some friends to check out this thing that one of their parents is doing.” He replied.  
“That sounds fun! I hope you have fun kid!” She said with a laugh. “By the way, if I give you some cash will you go to the nearest café and get me a coffee? I need a caffeine fix. You can get yourself something too.”  
“I was already gonna go get coffee so consider it my treat, Maria!” He replied enthusiastically. “Hazelnut and Caramel right?”  
“You know me so well. Are you sure I can’t adopt you kid?” She said with a laugh.  
“I’m sure!” he said. “I’ll be back in ten.”  
“See you kid!” She said as he ran off.   
“Making nice with the boss’s kid, I applaud you. Sneaky move.” Maria rolled her eyes and Alessandro Carelli walked up to her.  
“Adrien is a good kid. I’m nice to him because he’s a sweet kid, not because Mr. Agreste is his father.” She snapped. “Did your group finish?”  
“Barely but we did. Working with the 1920s was not pleasant.” He replied leaning closer to her.  
“I will not hesitate to stab you, Carelli.” She snapped.   
“Ugh, no need to be a bitch.” He sighed. “All you gotta do is go on one date with me and you’ll see that I’m the best choice for you.”  
“Fuck off.” She said.   
Alessandro frowned and moved some of his curly locks away from his hair. “You’ll see.” He muttered  
“I’ll cut off your balls.” She hissed.


	2. Chapter 2

Adrien was rather amused. He had dirt on his father’s favorite worker that put a smug feeling on his face. It wasn’t that he didn’t like Maria, no quite opposite actually. He liked her for his dad. In fact she was the only viable option. Nathalie, as lovely as she was, was far too into her work mode to actually be considered for his plan. But back to her dirty secret.   
It had been pure coincidence. They had a mutual follower (who he was mutual with) that reblogged her selfie and he had recognized her instantly. So he clicked on her tumblr URL and saw her most recent post “HALP I’M CRUSHING ON MY BOSS” which caused him to die of laughter. So he followed her (it wasn’t like he would reveal who the fuck he was on tumblr. His name was well known and he didn’t need more creepy comments—Facebook was traumatizing enough) and it was hilarious.  
Nino was in on it too. They made a game of sending her anons that kink shamed the hell out of her. Of course it was all in good fun. He liked her for his dad. She was probably the only other person (besides him on rare occasion) who could get any emotion out of him. His father once stated that she was lucky she had the most talented hands out of all the teams he had. (He tried to hold back the giggles from all the horrible implications his father had not realized he made).   
Of course, this Tuesday he was amused and he had a plan. He was going to set them up and his father would realize she was an amazing woman, they would fall in love, get married after three months of dating, and he would get a whole bunch of siblings. His plan of course was not yet fool proof. He still needed the cooperation of Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Maria Rosario Balboa for it. Nino was always down for his shenanigans but the other two were enigmas to his plans.   
Marinette could barely talk to him and he had no clue why. He was pretty sure she hated him both as Adrien and as Chat Noir which caused him more panic than necessary. Maria would probably be too pissed off to deal with him when he revealed that he knew about her crush.   
As he walked into the café, he noted that Marinette and Alya were there. He figured He would approach her later that day. Instead he took his sweet time with ordering and then taking the longest route possible to get back to the Fashion House.   
*******   
Maria was about ready to commit murder by the time the review was started. Mr. Agreste was notoriously picky and it did not help that she was running on four hours of sleep and no caffeine. She tried hard not to roll her eyes as he chastised them stating he could fire them at any moment.   
He could but he rarely did.   
She took a deep breath once again mentally cursing his son who had gone an hour ago to get her the promised drink of coffee. She took to watching her boss inspect the clothing instead. His frown was notable making him slightly less attractive, but he was still looking good for a man who was barely going to be forty.   
He came to her suit and she watched as he inspected it. To her surprise she noted the praising look in his eyes. It made her want to squeal but she was a fucking adult dammit! (Admittedly, at 22 she still loved cartoons, anime, cosplay, and general fuckery but she was still an adult!)   
“Miss Balboa…?” He said causing her to stand straighter than she had been.  
“Yes sir, is there an issue?” She asked not daring to say more than that.   
“This suit is Unisex, I assume?” He questioned walking around it…which caused more inappropriate mental images that really needed to stop.   
“It is sir.” She said.  
“Are you aware you created in a small female size? Or that if it is Unisex we would need a male version in the same style.” He said.  
“Sir,” She began evenly. “We were told to make it to dress figure size. Of course it is in a small female size. If you have an issue please by all means look over your writing.”  
She could see the smirk on Carelli’s face and that made her want to punch him even more than she wanted to punch Mr. Agreste.  
“Miss Balboa, are you aware who I am?” He asked.  
Bad thoughts everywhere.  
“I am, but I followed your instructions to a T. You cannot deny that.” She said growing red with anger (or embarrassment at her own thoughts.)  
“I see.” He replied.  
With that he left.  
******  
Gabriel Agreste was pissed at his own mistake. He knew he would explode from the embarrassment of not paying attention to his own words. He walked away with Nathalie on his heel. He stopped when he saw Adrien enter the fashion house.  
“Hello Father…” He greeted.   
“Good Morning, Adrien.” He replied.  
“Did Maria get under your skin again?” Adrien asked with a wry smile.   
“Unfortunately.” He drawled. “Go finish your shoot and then you may go on with your day.”   
“Dad, you know you like her.” He teased.  
“She’s lucky she’s talented. I don’t appreciate her presence.” He replied. “I will be in my office.”  
“Got it, father.” He said stifling a giggle.   
Gabriel frowned even more when he got into the office. Truthfully, the young woman was an asset he could not afford to lose. She had been an impressive student which had caught the eye of many of the couture houses as well as several other companies internationally which was a rare thing. Even Anna Winter had been impressed by her versatile method that somehow managed to make everything amazing. She was difficult in his opinion and was never one to leave her opinion unheard. She also managed to get Adrien to much more compliant with work recently. The boy had mentioned it was like having an older sibling who made everything much more amusing. Which also meant that he would have to keep her for Adrien’s sake.   
He rather despised the fact that she had become an asset in both the professional sense and the personal sense. If Adrien liked her presence, he would bear with it.


	3. Chapter 3

Lunch was an easier situation for Maria; she could leave the building and get food she could actually enjoy—although French food felt a bit bland to her. She smiled as she walked to the nearby bakery (really it was the only place that had anything that reminded her of home).  
“Good Afternoon.” She greeted walking in.  
“Hey Maria!” the young girl at the counter called. “Are you here for your usual?”   
“Yep. Thanks, Marinette.” She said with a smile. “So how’s your sketching going?”  
“I finally found the perfect hem for that polka dot dress I was telling you about. I’m gonna make it fish wire because it gives it that pretty flowy type end.” Marinette replied with a squeal. “I hope it’ll look good for the dance.”  
“I’m sure it will,” Maria said. “If you need help, feel free to come by the fashion house, if I’m not too busy you can work with me in my studio!”   
“I don’t know… I mean I would love too but what if Mr. Agreste gets mad or I…” Marinette began to ramble. Maria had to stifle a giggle. Marinette reminded her of herself at that age. She had been so awkward and felt a constant need to explain herself for everything.   
“Marinette, I will deal with both of the Agreste boys. Adrien is a sweetheart, so don’t worry, and Mr. Agreste is always keeping his eye open for blossoming talent.” Maria said with a giggle pulling out her wallet from her purse. “Plus, if you like the boy you gotta become more used to being in a more personal setting with him.   
“I…” Marinette said with a blush. “It’s just hard. I get all flustered and he’s so nice and I just can’t even.”   
“Oh sweety, like my grandpa Emmanuel always used to say. Love tends to make you either very awkward or very cranky.” She said with a laugh.  
“You’re cranky with everyone…” Marinette said.   
“I’m extra cranky with someone I like, extremely violent if I hate them.” Maria said. “Besides, you’re a cute girl. You shouldn’t worry about whether or not a boy likes you.”  
“I wish I could…” She sighed.  
“Here’s a secret.” Maria said placing the money on the counter. “I have never even had my first kiss and I’m happy and single. I’m not saying you should give up your crush. I’m just saying that it shouldn’t become your main priority in life. You liking Adrien isn’t a bad thing, letting your crush consume your life and affect your daily actions is.”  
“I see!” Marinette said with a smile.  
“Yep. Now I expect you to come seek me at work, child. Tell your parents I said hi by the way.” She said taking her bag of ham and cheese croissants.   
“I’ll try and come by soon!” She said with a laugh.   
“You better!” Maria called back.  
*******  
Gabriel looked over the paper work for the new line over and over again. Something was off but he didn’t know what and that was frustrating him to no end.   
“Sir, we’ve finished with Adrien’s photo-shoot.” Nathalie announced walking in with Adrien.  
Gabriel straightened up and looked at them.  
“How do you think it went?” was the simple response.  
“The photographer managed to get many amazing shots, sir.” Nathalie said. “I will have the final cuts brought to you in a few hours.”  
“I see.” He replied looking at Adrien. “Don’t you have thing with some friends today?”  
“I do, I told them to meet me here if it’s not a problem.” Adrien said. “I’ll be quiet until then.”  
“I suppose that is fine but where did you plan to meet?” Gabriel asked.  
“In the front, I was just going to hang out with Maria until they came.” He said biting his lip.  
“Don’t bit your lip, it’s bad for you.” Gabriel chastised. “I suppose if she keeps on task I will allow it.”  
“She’s on her lunch break.” Adrien said.  
“Since when?” Gabriel asked.  
“Oh right you don’t keep track, Maria always goes to lunch at 1:15. She usually gets two ham and cheese bagels and a lemon tea with lots of Ice and Sugar.” Adrien said.  
“Son, I know you appreciate her presence in your life, but isn’t that a bit too much information to know about one employee?” Gabriel asked trying to hide the fact that he was extremely concerned by the rather detailed explanation of one employee’s lunch.  
“Huh… she only told me that once a while back when she was working on the wedding dress for Madame Di Franco.” Adrien replied.  
“Yes, but son, you do realize that was oddly specific.” Gabriel decided to elaborate while attempting to keep his cold demeanor.  
“To be fair, I tend to remember lots of weird things, like for example. You can’t sleep without wearing navy blue ankle socks. If you don’t wear those, you tend to pace until two in the morning and then you go and munch on your secret stash of chocolate.” Adrien said.  
“Why do you even know that?” Gabriel said letting his surprise go through.   
“I was getting a glass of milk and I saw you.” Adrien replied with a shrug. “Can I go now?”  
“Of course.” Gabriel replied  
“Sir…?” Nathalie said. “My Husband is in town and I would like to know if now is okay for me to end my day?”  
“Go.” Gabriel said. “Tell Philippe I said hello.”  
“Of course. I will see you in three weeks.” She said with a nod of her head.   
“Of course.” He replied.   
*****  
Maria was surprised to Adrien sitting in her studio playing on his phone. She smirked to herself and looked at his innocent demeanor. It was like seeing one of her younger brothers again.  
With a wicked grin she yelled, “OH MY GOSH IT’S LADYBUG!”  
“What!” Adrien called shuffling off the seat onto the floor.  
“I’m kidding.” She said walking up to the teen.  
“That wasn’t funny.” He huffed.  
“It was hilarious and that’s what you get for making fun of my tuxedo mask key chain last week.” She said. “You want some of my croissants?”  
“I’m good.” He said forcing himself to stand. “At the baking contest there’s gonna be lots of free samples, at least according to Nino.”   
“There probably will be.” Maria said with a laugh. “So how was the shoot?”  
“It was really good! I think my dad will like the pics.” Adrien exclaimed.  
“Of course he will. You’re his only child and you’re amazing at what you do, my cinnamon child.” She said with a smile. “I can’t wait for you to try the male version of the unisex suit! I already have a candidate for the female model that your dad can’t say no too!”  
“Who is it?” Adrien asked.  
“You know Marinette Dupain-Cheng? She goes to your school?” Maria began. “I talked to her parents a lot and then to her and I basically became her mentor and I want her to become a bit more involved.”  
“With a plan like that, Dad might wind up marrying you.” Adrien said.  
Maria choked on her sandwich. She took a deep breath hoping to fight the blush that was threatening to show up. She grabbed her lemon iced tea and took a big chug out of it.  
“Why would I want to marry him?” She managed to say.   
“With a plan like that to get younger talent in here, dad might think you’re some evil genius and keep you extremely close.” Adrien said with a nonchalant shrug.  
“No offense, but I wouldn’t marry your dad.” She said. Why are you lying? Your brain is now on song meme repeat.   
Oh fuck maybe I do?  
I am lusting!  
You wanna marry him.  
I want to bang the angry asshole.  
Sure.   
“Maria, are you okay?” Adrien asked noting she had a blank look on her face.  
“I’m fine kid. Now stop with the weird, I want to enjoy my sandwich.” She said with a sigh. “Your friends are gonna be here within the hour right?”  
“Yeah.” He said with a shrug.   
“Okay then…” She said shrugging as well.  
*********  
When Adrien left, Maria felt relieved. It wasn’t that she disliked the child. It was the conflict that his comment had given her. She knew she wanted the man physically, that there was no denying. Marriage was not something she would *ever* in a million years consider with her boss.   
Well if she did marry him, she would probably kill him or more than likely divorce him. He was the type of man you would marry for his fortune. He didn’t seem like the affectionate type. Unless he was a Mr. Darcy type and was actually just so socially awkward that he acted like an asshole because it was easier.  
That was a thought right there. Frankly, the thought of the emotionally constipated man known as Gabriel Agreste being a similar case to Mr. Darcy made her laugh. Mr. Darcy was an awkward man; whereas Mr. Agreste was, in her opinion, an Ass.   
She looked at her suit and then at the clock. Most of the workers tended to leave early on Tuesdays when it was a review. No one else had gotten any other assignments and really only the flapper dress and the Unisex suit were all that were left of the current line to be finished. She sighed knowing she was going to be there for a while.  
The previous group that had been working on the project had left very little to work with. Something told her that she wouldn’t be seeing them anytime soon. She looked over their notes from the beginning stages and frowned. She knew she was pretty half-assed in college but even she could tell that the dress hadn’t been given much effort on any of their parts.   
She was going to have to talk to Mr. Agreste about redoing the design completely and getting a large amount of beads as soon as possible. She shrugged off her blazer and went straight to drawing.  
After an hour she finally finished a few rough sketches that she could present to Gabriel when she spoke to him. She stood up and noticed Alessandro walking to her. She held back a groan.  
“Hello lovely.” He said with his trademark smirk.  
Maria frowned and said, “How can I help you?”  
“I was just wondering if you had time after…” He began.  
“Please stop. I am not interested in going out with you and I will never be interested in you. I am busy making my own life. Go flirt with someone else.” She snapped.  
“Now, Bella.” He said.  
“WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU NOT GOT ABOUT I AM NOT INTERESTED. I WILL NEVER BE INTERESTED.” She finally yelled. “Now please, excuse me. I have to go take some sketches to the boss.”   
Alessandro moved to the side anger slowly burning into him. Maria scurried quickly away not wanting to know what could happen if she stayed. If she had stayed she would have noticed a small black moth landing on his fish shaped wrist cuff.  
*********  
“Mr. Agreste?” She called knocking on his door.   
“Yes, Miss Balboa?” He replied.  
“I have a few things I need to talk to you about the dress.” She said stepping into his office. “Is this a bad time?”  
“No, now is fine. Please take a seat.” He said motioning for her to sit.   
She took a deep breath and tried to ignore the various things that could probably happen in this room if she were bolder and risqué in her persona.   
“Thank you.” She said taking a seat. “I was looking over the original dress and concepts and I felt it necessary to run by you the idea of possibly changing everything.”  
“Change everything?” Gabriel asked. “What do you have in mind?”   
“I brought a few rough sketches for your approval sir, would you like to take a...”  
KABOOM!  
Both she and Gabriel fell to the floor. She stood up and saw a creature made of glass which was filled with water and fishes?  
“The name is TankMaster…” It growled  
No one really expected for the day to end the way it did. Really it had been a usual Tuesday. Yet here Maria was with her back pressed against the wall and her boss next to her staring at a human fish tank for lack of better description. Really who knew telling a guy you would never be interested in him and that he should stop would result in that? Maria looked around and internally groaned.   
“You know, boss, She’s angling for a raise.” It said. “Pretty little girl pretends to be shy, but everyone can tell she wants a daddy and you seem to fit the bill.”  
“Gross…” Maria mumbled. She looked over to Gabriel who seemed virtually unimpressed.  
“If you were going to use fish puns, to insult Miss Balboa, you cod have had the decency to at least use ones that weren’t so stupid.” Gabriel scoffed.  
Maria’s eyes widened and she yelled, “We’re trapped with a fucking human fish tank and your first instinct is to criticize its fucking puns?”  
“If this thing were actually intimidating, then I wouldn’t have reason to criticize.” He replied with another scoff.  
“We literally have our backs to a fucking wall!” She cried. “Fish brains please just kill us both already.”  
“Why would I be impressed? He’s obviously fishing for compliments.”   
“Oh my god, let today be my last day on this fucking earth.”   
TankMaster grinned and said, “My dear that can be arranged.”  
Maria’s eyes widened when she saw one of its hands slowly glowing. Never had she in her life wished she had chosen her words more carefully. Before she knew a bright flash of light hit them. When she opened her eyes they were in a glass cage with a large water hose over it.   
“You two have two hours before you two swim with the fishes.” TankMaster said with a grin.   
Maria had to do everything in her power not to let anxiety get to her. She took a deep breath and looked to her side to see Gabriel glaring at the glass.   
“Maria.” He called.  
“Yeah boss?” She said.   
“Come here.” She nodded making her way through the water glad that it still hadn’t incapacitated her yet.  
When she got closer he handed her his jacket and his glasses.   
“Hold these.” He ordered.  
“Yes sir.” She replied.   
*******8  
Gabriel really didn’t understand how this could happen. He hadn’t done anything to offend anyone that day (he learned his lesson after the Bubbler Incident. Flying in a giant bubble to space really makes a person think about their life choices.). Yet, there he was unbuttoning his sleeves and rolling them up to try and break a glass tank that he had not expected.   
He took a few step backs before charging at the glass with side. He heard a soft gasp from his side and was surprised to see Maria, spunky and always ready to fight Maria, looking at him with fear and confusion.  
He was half tempted to make a smart comment but he was too busy trying to break them out. He knew they were in a pickle. He stood up to try again. He was not expecting that the light drizzle that had already been pounding on them would soon become a quick cascade that caused the water to go up to their hips.   
He looked to Maria and noted that she was breathing heavily. He frowned remembering another time when he and Adrien had been in a car accident. He made his way quickly to her knowing the water was slowing him down significantly. He grabbed her by the shoulders.  
“Take deep breaths!” He barked.  
Another cascade fell on them. He knew the damn walking fish tank had been lying when he said two hours. The water was rising to their shoulders and he knew with the way things were going Maria would not be able to swim.   
“Drop my coat and glasses,” He commanded. “Wrap your arms around me and whatever you do, don’t let go.”   
She nodded slowly coming to her sense. She wrapped her arms tightly around his waist as another cascade of water hit them. She clung onto Gabriel as he moved upward towards the air.  
When they got up he lifted her arms to go around his neck.  
“Put your legs around my waist. You’re in no condition to swim.” He said.   
She barely managed a nod as he tried to keep them up.   
A few more seconds passed before everything began to disappear. Maria and Gabriel wound up on the floor.  
“B-boss… I don’t think I’m gonna come in tomorrow.” She said moving away from him.  
“I think I’m going to follow the suit.” He muttered sitting up and attempting to fix his hair.


	4. Chapter 4

Gabriel had surprisingly slept in. He needed it considering the events of the day before. Frankly despite being able to have kept calm, he still felt a horrendous amount of anxiety which had made it even harder than usual to sleep which meant shifting in bed until three am.   
“Hey father, where is Nathalie?” Adrien asked putting his head through the door frame and the door.  
“She’s with her husband.” He replied groaning. “Don’t you have something to do?”  
“Nope. I don’t think so.” Adrien said walking. “How come you aren’t at work?”  
“It’s none of your concern.” He replied pulling the blanket over his head. He was too tired to deal with anything at the moment.  
“Can I nap next to you?” Adrien asked.  
“Only if you plan on actually napping.” Gabriel said moving to the side.  
Adrien smiled and crawled in next to his dad. “Sleep tight…” He mumbled.  
“Watch out for bugs… although you’d probably get excited.” Gabriel muttered.   
Adrien’s eyes widened. He looked at his dad’s sleeping form and then at the wall. He blinked once and then twice. He looked at his dad again.   
“What’s that supposed to mean?” He squeaked in terror.  
“I know about your weird crush on Ladybug.” Gabriel groaned pulling the blanket down. “Son, please nap. I am tired.”   
“Why? Not to be rude, but you’re too much of a workaholic to skip work.” Adrien said covering himself.  
“Me and Maria got attacked by an Akuma, and frankly I’m too tired to actually go back.” Gabriel replied. “Now sleep boy. We’ll order something for breakfast later.”   
Adrien nodded and lied down next to his father and for once listened to him.  
***  
Maria felt like shit. Those were the best words to describe her emotions at the moment. Her mind kept replaying the scene that happened yesterday. It literally mad everything worse in her opinion. She figured her lust would dwindle after being in such a scary situation but no.  
It had gotten worse.   
Much worse.  
Because now she wanted him so much more.  
And she knew what it was like to have her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck, now. And those thoughts that were once really bad became so much worse.  
She really felt like shit.   
She was also slightly upset that she could enjoy a bit of the moment. She was also pissed, because this was her ASSHOLE BOSS. The same guy who wanted everything perfect, was incredibly strict, and had no qualms telling you that you sucked. He was also the same guy who would stay late with them making sure they would meet the deadline, who apparently told really bad puns at really bad moments, and who had a smile that she was pretty sure could cure cancer.   
And back she was to feeling like shit.   
How the hell could the man have so many mood swings and still somehow convince everyone in the room that he had more finesse than the fucking mayor of Paris.   
She also thought about the fish tank man. It terrified her to no end that he had come specifically for her and she could feel her body shake at the though. It tried to kill her. She had a feeling that the person under there was not someone she wanted to face again anytime soon.  
She took another deep breath and then looked at her phone. She figured that she could call her mother today since she hadn’t spoken to her in like a week. They were probably all worried anyways.  
Picking up the phone she began dialing her parents.  
Ring.   
Ring.   
Ring.  
“Bueno?” She heard her mom say.  
“Hey mom.” She greeted.  
“mija! Oh my gosh how are you?” Her mother asked.  
“I’m good. I actually got a day off today. Then tomorrow it’s back to business.” She said.  
“You’re grandma is here do you want to say hi?” her mother asked.  
“I’m good, I was just checking on you guys.” She replied. “How is everything?”  
“I’m fine, Arturo was already nominated for valedictorian at school and most of the teachers are rooting for him. Did you know he’s senior class president?”   
“No I didn’t. Do he, Manolo, and Ezekiel go to the gym still?”   
“Yes! Manny was chosen for the junior Olympics with Juan! Zeke is training to go next year. Can you believe the games are going to be held in France this year?”  
“I’m excited. I’ll try to have my vacation days around that time. Hopefully I don’t have any major projects due. Right now with fashion week finally being over we finally have some time to focus on our 1920s project. Ugh. I have to do so much sewing.”  
“How is that going?”   
“It’s fine. One of the groups messed up one of the main dress, so I have to redo that. My boss was being a bit of a jerk, but with him it’s expected.”  
“Speaking of men.”  
“We weren’t but okay.”   
“Have you met any?”  
“Ugh mom… No. I am busy focusing on making myself happy. I don’t have time for anything more than a casual one night stand.”  
“Sweetie, you can’t tell you mother that there isn’t a man who doesn’t pike your interests? Eh?”  
“Ay pues, I guess.”   
“Who! Mommy wants all the details.”  
“ugh… Say nothing to no one or I am not calling anyone for a month.”  
“I won’t tell, Mija.”   
“Well, I kind of have the hots for said jerk of a boss.”  
“Mija, He’s like three years younger than your own father.”  
“This is not the oldest man I’ve considered sleeping with mother.”   
“Who was that other one?”  
“Robert Carlyle. But you gotta admit, for a man in his fifties he’s pretty freaking hot.”  
“I have my Mexican, so no. He isn’t.”   
“Sure mom. But anyways, it’s not like anything is gonna happen. He only talks to me when it’s work related. Other than that I’m not too involved in his personal life.”  
“Isn’t he married?”  
Maria rolled her eyes. Her mother was about to go off on her for absolutely nothing.  
“Mother, he’s a widow. It was international news. He has a kid but that’s about it. Adrien’s about Zeke’s age.”  
“So you’re close with the kid?”  
Maria took a deep breath and then looked at the floor.  
“He likes to hang out with the designers on his free days waiting for his friends. He asks me a lot of questions since he’s curious. He only started talking to me because he saw my anime keychain.”   
“Mija… maybe you shouldn’t be so close to him. People might start…”  
“Mom! Nothing is happening with me and his dad. I’m only physically attracted to the asshole and I talk to the kid because he reminds me of my brothers. Other than that I don’t approach them. I have to go. I need to work on something. Bye.”  
“Bye.”  
Maria was fuming. She knew her mother had meant well but in the end it reminded her of why she had easily accepted the offer to work in the main firm in France when she had been offered the job. Her family didn’t trust her decisions. Despite her rather childish nature she had always been more level headed which made it easier for her to let things go.  
“I should get lunch.” She said to herself. “Oh wait, it’s breakfast time.”  
*****  
Adrien felt proud as he and his father walked down the streets. No one recognized them thankfully and he hoped it could remain that way. He was still surprised his father even agreed to spend the day with him, but he figured that since he had no work, no Nathalie, and no motivation it was easier to convince him to do things.   
He was still surprised his dad owned a pair of Jeans though. He never really thought that his father actually knew what denim felt like.   
“So where are we going?” Gabriel asked, still obviously tired. That Akuma must’ve done a number on him if the man was that tired.   
“The Bakery. They make some of the best food there ever!” He exclaimed. “A friend of mine is the owner’s daughter.”  
“Which friend? Hopefully not that Nino boy.” Gabriel said.  
“Dad, Nino is a boy.” Adrien sighed.  
“Oh.” Gabriel said with a shrug.   
“It was the girl who won the bowler hat competition.” He said.  
“You mean the one you touched longer than Necessary?” Gabriel asked hiding a smirk.  
“EH?” Adrien replied turning red. “What’s that supposed to mean?”  
“You’re not very touchy feely, son. Anyone can spot that you touch her than is a bit more necessary.” Gabriel said with a shrug. “But why did we have to walk.”  
“You need to be a normal person for a day.” He replied.   
“I am not a normal person.” Gabriel deadpanned.  
“Well since you aren’t working today, you’re a normal person and normal people spend time with their children.” Adrien said. “Plus, you owe me for several things.”


	5. Chapter 5

Marinette was shocked when she saw a young man with messy blond hair, a pair of cargo shorts, some sneakers, and shirt with a horrible cat pun. She noted that behind him was an older gentleman dressed in simple denim jeans and long sleeved button up shirt in which the sleeves were rolled up to his elbow. His platinum blond hair was just as messy as the young man but it was parted at the side which made it look slightly neater. The older man also had sun glasses unlike the younger man, which she noted shared some similarities with him.  
CHAT IS FUCKING HERE AND HE’S… spending time with his dad? I heard they were talking a bit more but…. She thought in terror  
She looked confused as they walk to the counter. The boy smiled at her a shy and very familiar smile.  
“Hey, Marinette.” He said in a voice that was horrifyingly familiar.   
“Do I know you?” the words slipped out before she could stop herself from saying them.   
“Ha! Told you!” The boy cheered. “Pay up!”   
Marinette felt her confusion grow. “Do I know you?” she asked with a bit more force in her voice.  
“It’s me, Adrien!” He said with a big grin.   
Marinette blinked once. And then again.  
“Adrien?” She said looking him in terror. She had never though that Adrien without his hair neatly combed would look so similar to Chat, but it did.   
“The one and only!” He said with a big grin. “I brought my dad and was wondering if you had any suggestions for us to try.”  
“Uh… just look around? I am not sure what either of you like?” She said fidgeting nervously because of the two. “The Macaroons are freshly baked. The cinnamon rolls are a favorite.”  
“Dad, what do you think?” Adrien asked. Marinette was surprised to see how happy Adrien looked and she noted that the man looked… happy?  
“Anything is fine. I’m not a fan of sweets.” He replied in a monotonous voice.  
“We gotta fix that!” Adrien said with a big smile. “Let’s look around.”   
Adrien pulled his father towards the nearest stand to inspect the sweets leaving a wide-eyed Marinette watching them. She didn’t know how to feel about how similar Chat and Adrien looked. Alya had mentioned a while back that Adrien was a possible contender for the hero but this was a bit too much.  
****   
Maria had decided that staying at home would result in something negative. She dressed herself in a simple peach colored maxi dress with some white flats, curled her hair and put on a pair of sunglasses before grabbing her bag and heading off for the day.   
Her first stop was the Dupain-Cheng Bakery. She felt the need something sweet to keep her mood up. She was also craving cinnamon rolls that day for an ungodly reason. She smiled as she entered.  
“Good morning.” She said with a smile.  
“Hey!” Marinette greeted.  
Maria smiled and looked around while walking to the counter. She caught sight of a rather attractive older man standing next to his son. She took a moment to slow down and appreciate the way the denim hugged the curves his behind. She wondered if his butt felt as firm as it looked.  
She walked to the counter and leaned over and whispered, “Who’s the kid with the hot dad?”  
Marinette squeaked. Her eyes were wide and lips were trembling.  
“H-he’s…” Marinette began before she let out a loud laugh.  
“Hey Marinette, is something wrong?” Maria turned pale at the familiar voice. She looked to her side and realized the son of said attractive man was looking at them.   
“I-it’s fine... A-adrien.” She said between giggles. “Inside joke.”   
Maria felt her entire body turn red.   
Oh fuck.  
OH FUCK.   
She had just been checking out her boss’s ass in the most inconspicuous way ever. She didn’t know whether to die on the spot or hope and pray that her whisper was actually a whisper (though the oldest of her younger brothers would claim her whisper was what a normal voice volume level should be at.). She took a deep breath and looked at Marinette.  
“Do you guys h-have cinnamon rolls.” She asked trying to ignore the fact that her voice went up five octaves.  
“Yeah… They’re next to the cinnamon buns…pffft…..oh my god…. I need to go in the back!” Marinette replied before laughing even harder. “Dad! U-up front…hahaha. Please!”  
Tom came out from the back. As soon as he did, Marinette ran to the back let out a loud laugh and even a few snorts.  
“Hello, Maria…” Tom greeted. “You’re here early.”  
“Yeah… uh. I had a day off.” She replied with a nonchalant shrug trying to ignore the feeling that someone (someone she was praying wasn’t Gabriel Agreste who apparently could wear dad jeans and somehow make those attractive.)  
“Oh that’s nice!” Tom said with a smile. “So what are you looking for today?”  
“Cinnamon rolls?” she replied trying to keep her composure.   
****   
Gabriel hadn’t found any of the sweet particularly enticing. He had never been fond of sweets, even as a child. He found them to be unpleasing to the tongue and far too sticky to even be near. He noted that Adrien was having fun trying to pick bread for them to share on this strange excursion.   
He had been tempted to say no to the whole trip but Adrien had pulled the one card he hadn’t expected. The false gift. That alone was enough to force the man to comply to his son’s whims a bit more simply because he knew the boy had been heartbroken to the point where he had ran away. He didn’t feel like having a repeat of that day anytime soon. He had enough anxiety to deal with; losing his son was something he wanted to think would happen anytime soon.   
He kept his thoughts neutral as they looked through the bakery. He had heard the door chime and paid no attention to it. It wasn’t until the baker’s daughter let out a howl of laughter that he looked to the side.   
He noticed a young woman standing there. He recognized her as Maria Balboa, the biggest thorn at his side. She was dressed differently from what he was used to seeing her—she was only every work formal, except for that one night when he found her hand beading which had prompted him to compliment her for her devotion. The wedding dress had been stunning thanks to that effort she had placed—it was strange.   
He examined the dress from the side of his eye. He rarely thought much of Maxi dresses but Maria’s was lovely. The peach color went well with her skin tone (a somewhat light olive color, not that he noticed that often). He tried to get a good idea of the seams and amount of fabric the dress would have. He managed to get a good look at the bottom. The hem was even with fish wire (a bit fancy for a casual maxi dress.).  
“The cinnamon rolls are by that that gentleman there.” He heard the baker say to Maria.  
He kept his gaze on the sweets hoping to avoid eye contact. He turned to look at Adrien who had a smile on his face.  
“Did you find anything you wanted?” Gabriel asked.  
“A few things! I need to go talk to Marinette quickly and then we’ll buy!” Adrien replied before going to speak to the baker.   
Maria walked up next to him.  
“Um, excuse me, boss.” She said with a nervous smile, “You’re blocking the cinnamon rolls.”  
“My bad.” He said moving to the side.  
“Thanks.” She said moving to inspect them. “So you decided to spend the day with Adrien?”  
“He asked.” He replied simply. “You’re out by yourself?”   
“I am. I have to scope the city a bit more.” She replied. “I’ve only been here 10 months and I have been around much.”  
“I see.” He replied.  
“Any recommendations for places to go?” She asked.  
“The Eifel tower is one.” He said with a shrug.   
“You don’t seem impressed with it.” She noted.  
“I live fairly close to it.” He replied simply.   
***   
Adrien smiled as Mr. Dupain led him towards the back where he was surprised to see Marinette was barely beginning to calm down.  
“Hey…” He greeted.  
“H-hey…” she replied.  
“So that was quite a laughing spell over an inside joke.” He said with a grin. “What’s the real story?”   
“Not telling.” She replied with surprising ease. That made him glad. He was pretty sure she hated him with all the stutters and running away.   
“I know about her crush on my dad.” He said with a shrug.  
“She only posts that on tumblr!” She hissed quietly grabbing him by the shirt. “How do you know that?”  
“I accidently found her tumblr.” He replied quietly looking over his shoulder.   
“How?” she hissed.  
“I might follow you on tumblr.” He replied with a sheepish grin.  
Marinette’s eyes widened considerably. He was surprised that she was quite expressive. It was cute to watch her face shift from anger to fear in .02 seconds flat. He smiled as he watched her face. She was really too cute.   
“How did you find that?” she asked quietly.   
“Nino told me after he asked Alya.” He replied patting her shoulder. “Anyways, I need your help!”  
“Eh?” She replied.  
“I wanna set up Maria and my dad.” He said quietly. “And I need your help. I texted Nino and Alya a while ago and they got stuff I need set up. This was just the stroke of luck I needed!”  
“How?” She asked.  
“Maria is really close to you right? I was thinking you could help me trick her into spend the day with me and my dad, but you have to come along too.” He began.  
“Do you ever think things through?” She asked with a sigh.  
“Nope.” He grinned. “Will you help me?”  
“Ugh fine.” She said. His smile broadened. She had spoken to him without stuttering. She had been openly acting like herself during the evillustrator incident and that had made him happy. Everything was going his way and that made him happy.   
“I’m gonna go check with my dad. If he asks, we had plans with Nino and Alya. From there I can guilt Maria.” He said. “I’ll see you in a bit.”  
“Okay.” She said with a sigh.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> JESUS CHRIST THIS CHAPTER WAS 12 PAGES AND I HAD TO END IT BECAUSE OF REASONS
> 
> Anyways, gosh this chapter was supposed to end in a pun battle but it seems like we have to wait until the next chapter because yeah. Adrien is a baby in this chapter.
> 
> Also, I got a beautiful review on AO3 and I just had to mention it because it really made my day :D 
> 
> and this is my generic author's note that I use on tumblr, fanfiction, and now AO3

Adrien quickly made his way to his father trying to hide the grin on his face. He and Maria were talking which made the grin hiding harder.  
“Hey, dad! Um… don’t be mad.” He began with a nervous chuckle.  
Gabriel stayed silent.  
“So I kind of forgot I had plans with Marinette, Alya and Nino today and I was wondering if it was fine if they just joined us, if it’s not a problem.” He said feigning nervousness. Really, He thought, I deserve an Oscar more than Leonardo DiCaprio does.   
Gabriel remained neutral. “I suppose that is fine.” He replied.  
“Awesome!” he said with a small hop. “Hey Maria, what are you doing today? I forgot to ask?”  
“Oh I was just telling your old man over here that I am just gonna explore Paris today.” She said with a nervous smile. “I’m gonna go pay now.”  
“You wanna come with us?” Adrien asked looking at her hopefully.  
“I …. Uh…” Maria began. “I feel like I would be intruding!”  
“You wouldn’t!” Adrien said. “Oh dad, get us some brownies and cinnamon rolls! Besides, dad needs an adult to keep his mind sane!”   
“I’m sure your father can keep his mind sane without me.” She said.  
“Hey Adrien!” Marinette called. “Are you done so we can go?”  
“Almost.” He called back.   
Okay so Maria was being stubborn and his dad really didn’t seem to care. He looked to Marinette and noticed that she was just watching to see what happened.   
“C’mon! We’ll give you a better tour of Paris and you won’t have to be afraid of getting lost!” Adrien insisted.  
“I mean… I guess that sounds…okay?” She said.  
“So you’ll come?” He asked looking at her again with hope in his eyes.  
“Sure, what’s the worst that can happen?” She replied with a sigh. “Now I need to buy coffee to go with my cinnamon rolls.”   
“Okie! Dad let’s go pay!” He said dragging his dad behind Maria.   
***   
Gabriel felt like something fishy was going on. Adrien always informed a week prior to his engagements that he was doing something. He figured he would simply observe his son and see what shenanigans he had planned.   
He stood awkwardly behind Maria while Adrien bounced next to him. Adrien was bouncing with excitement. He noted that the boy had a few inches before he got to his height. He would probably be taller than him considering he hadn’t fully matured yet.  
“So Dad, we’re gonna meet at the river in like an hour!” Adrien explained, “We should check out the Eiffel tower!”  
“Oh joy…” Gabriel mumbled.  
“You don’t sound excited.” Maria said with a snort as she paid the baker.  
“It’s the same as it was when I was ten.” He replied.  
Gabriel looked to Maria half expecting her to make a rude comment about his age. It wasn’t uncommon that someone would crack a joke about his age (he was 39 and close to turning 40 soon). He walked up to the counter and looked at Adrien.  
“Wait I have to talk? You’re the adult…” Adrien huffed.  
“Teenagers, huh?” The baker said with a laugh. “So the cinnamon rolls, the brownies, and macaroons then? Anything to drink?”  
“A black coffee,” Gabriel said looking to Adrien.  
“You guys got anything with caramel?” He asked.  
“Coming right up! Have fun with Marinette; honestly, can you believe these kids. They have these plans for weeks and suddenly they remember?” the baker said with a laugh.  
“I know…” Gabriel said pulling out his wallet.   
“Alright Mr. Agreste, cash or credit?” the baker asked.   
“Credit.” He replied handing him the card.   
“Thank you!” the man replied swiping the card and handing it back to him.   
Gabriel gave a nod unsure of what else to do. Truthfully he felt awkward in this whole situation. He was in clothes that he rarely wore, his hair was a mess, and he had dealt with more social interaction outside of a work place scenario than he was comfortable with.   
He glanced to his side and noted that despite the awkward situation she seemed relatively calm. He figured that the young woman was not as put off by social interaction as he was. The other girl, Marinette, or his future daughter in law as he figured, seemed just as nonchalant.   
“Have a nice day!” the baker said handing them their drinks and the bag filled the sweets.  
“You too….” He managed before turning to leave.  
“Bye Mr. Dupain! Sorry we forgot to tell you about the plans.” Adrien called following his father. “C’mon ladies the day is young!”   
****   
Maria was surprised she had agreed but in the end the kid had a compelling argument. She would’ve gotten very lost in that area despite living there for 10 months and Paris was rather big, in her opinion which was a strange thing to think since she was from Los Angeles—which was significantly larger. Plus, it meant that she could probably learn random trivia that only Parisians would know.  
She walked outside taking her coffee with her watching as the Agreste boys as they looked over Adrien’s phone. She smirked into her coffee. She figured that Mrs. Agreste must’ve been where Adrien got most of his extroverted personality from. Mr. Agreste was horribly socially awkward as she had begun to notice. The man obviously had not been to a store in a while that required him to make nice. She found it endearing on his part.  
Not that she liked him.  
Oh well she did but physically.  
Because he was hot.  
And could make dad jeans look great.   
But she wasn’t interested in a relationship. (She was but she also wanted to piss off certain relatives with her single status)  
She had work to do tomorrow… today she was on break. She took a deep breath and opened her bag to eat some of the cinnamon roll. She took a quick bite before looking at Marinette.  
“Did you two really have plans to hang out today?” She asked with a smirk.  
“Yep!” Marinette replied with a smile. “It slipped our minds with everything going on. I’m glad Adrien reminded me.”  
“I guess I’ll buy it for now.” She said with a sigh. “So the Eiffel tower. Is it really as romantic as they say?”   
“Even more! It’s perfect to stand and look over everything.” Marinette replied with a dreamy sigh. “My parents go engaged there!”  
“That’s beautiful!” Maria said with a smile.  
Adrien walked up to them and said, “We’re gonna take the bus to the Eiffel tower and me and dad are gonna stop by the house to get some stuff then we’re off to meet Nino and Alya.”   
“Sounds like a plan, mind if we stop by my place though?” Maria asked. “I need to get some stuff too.”  
“Eh sure. Is it far from here?” Adrien asked.  
“No, it’s like a ten minute walk and the bus we need stops near it.” Maria said taking another sip of her coffee.   
“Okay, Dad, we’re going to Maria’s place first.” Adrien called to the older man who was standing a short distance.  
“I see…” He replied with a nod.  
Maria had to hold back a giggle. Really, that man did not know how to deal with the public at all. She looked at Adrien and Marinette.  
“I guess you guys have to follow me.  
****  
Marinette felt kind of shy as they walked. She was surprised that Adrien had managed to get them walking behind Maria and his dad. She wondered what had actually prompted the thought. It was curious as to why Adrien had been so invested in his father’s love life.  
“Do you think Nino will be happy to see your dad?” Marinette asked.  
“They hate each other but Nino is willing to set that aside for today.” Adrien said. “Plus I finally got my dad to agree that Nino is not a bad influence.”   
“How?” She asked staring at the man from behind. She still thought it was weird to see him, so awkward. He looked incredibly rigid and downright uncomfortable which was strange since the man always seemed to ooze confidence.   
“Long story.” He replied with a sigh.   
Marinette frowned when she noted that Adrien seemed a bit down after giving the simple response. She looked to Maria who moved confidently ahead of them all. She wondered if Mr. Agreste was enjoying the view.  
“You know,” She heard Adrien say. “My dad seems kind of thirsty… maybe we should see if he wants something to drink.”  
“You should ask after we meet up with Nino and Alya…” Marinette said quietly.   
She was surprised at how easy it had been to act normally around him after the earlier events. She couldn’t help but treat him the way she treated Chat. It was just too easy to slip into that banter. Half the time she was waiting for Adrien to start cracking a cat pun and howl with laughter.   
But she liked it. It was easier to talk to him and she really wanted to at least be his friend in the long run. He always seemed so distant, and her lack of ability to properly speak to him made that distance feel longer. The fact that he had needed her help made it even better. She had always figured he would have gone to Chloe since they had a longer history.   
****   
Maria kept walking at a faster pace than the others. She figured she would need to get a shawl or something seeing as that day felt like it would be a long one. She took a small look back at Mr. Agreste to make sure that he was keeping up.  
She tried to hide a smirk at his appearance. It was really rather amusing that despite the fact that he tried to look uninterested, it was painfully obvious that he had no clue what he was doing. She slowed down hoping he would catch up with her.  
When she felt his shadow next to her she smiled.  
“So boss, are you excited that you’re technically the babysitter of the day?” She asked.  
“I suppose.” He replied.  
“It’s obvious you’re put off by the social interactions.” She said with a small giggle.   
“I suppose that this amuses you.” He asked.  
“A bit. I’m more used to the over confident boss who is ready to chew everyone’s head off.” She said. “But, this is hilariously surprising. Who knew Gabriel Agreste is secretly socially awkward.”  
“I am not.” He said with an indignant huff.  
“Then have a conversation with me, Boss.” She said. “I don’t bite.”  
Yet, her brain added.   
“I’m sure you don’t.” He drawled. “But if you insist, Miss Balboa, I’ll make conversation.”  
“Wonderful! First things first, if you and Adrien are trying to be incognito, call me Maria. Second, just go with the flow.” She said. “Oh we’re here!”  
****  
Gabriel had to do everything to keep from turning red at her comment about biting. He had no clue why that had affected him. He was used to such comments. So why had it bothered him so much when she had said that?  
Maria looked to him and smiled before entering the apartment complex. He looked at it and was surprised at how nice it was for someone who had only lived there for about 10 months as he recalled. He looked to Adrien and the girl.  
They seemed to be having fun. It was rather adorable the way Adrien pretended that he wasn’t trying to show off to young woman. It reminded him of when he had met his wife… She had been much quieter than most people realized. Adrien had inherited her eyes and her knack for getting people to go along with her crazy schemes.  
He recalled how much easier it had been when she had been alive. He was more much willing to go out and be social now it just felt awkward. It was easier in work because things needed to be done. Outside of that he saw no point to speak to people for the sake of making nice.   
“Hey dad,” He heard Adrien call. “We should probably eat these quickly.”  
“Share with Miss Marinette, I am not fond of sweets.” He replied taking a sip of the now cold coffee.   
“Oh…” Adrien said looking at the floor.  
“But I do want a piece of the cinnamon roll.” He added quickly hoping to wipe the disappointed look off his face.  
Adrien looked at his father a smile before digging in and handing the snack to him. Gabriel gave a nod to indicate his thanks. He took a bit and was pleasantly surprised. Despite it being sweet it was met with the spice of the cinnamon which gave it a more sedated taste rather than an overly sugary taste.   
“I can see why your family’s bakery is very popular, Miss Marinette.” He said.  
The girl smiled shyly and said, “Thank you, sir!”   
****  
Maria quickly ran down stairs knowing that they would probably have to sprint to the bus stop. She quickly opened the gate only for her ankle to twist causing her to fall forward. She braced herself for the floor knowing full well that it would become her best friend in a minute.  
But it never came.  
And god how she wished it had.  
Because really where she had landed was worse than the floor—or better?   
“Miss Balboa, did you have a nice trip?” Gabriel asked as he held her by the waist. Since when did that man have strong arms…? And why was it making her feel all warm inside.   
“The puns were not necessary boss. Gravity and I have a very nice relationship, the only problem I have is when it gives a bit of a pull,” She replied looking up. “Oh snap! I got coffee on your shirt!”  
“Oh.” He said helping her up. She stared at the shirt biting her bottom lip.   
“uh… do you want to get a taxi to your house so you can change?” She asked looking at the stain.  
“Yikes, we should probably do that dad.” Adrien said looking at it as well.  
Maria felt her face heating up. She certainly hadn’t meant to fall nor be caught by her boss and mess up his shirt. She bit her lip and looked at the two of them. She looked to Marinette who was checking her phone. She looked back to Gabriel and Adrien and nearly choked on her spit.   
Gabriel had unbuttoned most of the shirt revealing a form fitting under shirt that left very little to the imagination. His chest was pretty nice for a slim man and his physique was what you would expect of a model. She had heard that he had modeled back in the 90s—her aunts had a lot of his posters—but she hadn’t expected him to still have that type of body.  
God knew what kind of sinful dreams she would be having tonight.  
****  
Maria was glad that everything had worked out in the end. She wrapped her shawl around her to keep her warm from the slight breeze and looked over the Eiffel tower railing. It had been pretty a quiet trip there. Soon they would meet with a few of the kids friends and she would be left as the designated adult companion to one Gabriel Agreste.   
She looked to her boss and saw that he was complete lots in thought. She wondered for a moment if he was thinking about his wife. From what she had known, Clarisse Agreste had been a lovely woman who no one could hate. She always figured the car accident probably screwed both him and his son in the long run. Neither had really tried reaching out to each other until Adrien had finally snapped and ran away. She hadn’t known the full details about it, but it had been bad enough for the normally nonchalant Gabriel Agreste to completely lose his shit.   
She looked to the rest of the city hoping to distract her mind. She really didn’t care about their personal lives. It didn’t affect her life at all. She was just an employee that Adrien had taken a liking to due to similar interests.  
Paris was beautiful, she thought. She looked at the scenery and her mind filled with the music of the roaring twenties. She had to admit that it made her feel calmer but it also made her miss the warmth of California. Her mind drifted to when she was a younger child. She thought of those sweet summer days she would spend with her grandparents. More specifically: her grandmother.   
She loved sitting in the garden in her grandmother’s house listening to old Hispanic music. Her grandmother always had old songs from Mexico playing. They would sit pealing the cactuses and she would tell her stories of Mexico from when she was a girl.   
She really missed her grandmother. She wondered if the old woman was okay. She had the urge to start crying. She knew it was stupid to miss home, she had chosen the furthest job she had been offered. But still, it was hard in the long run. It hadn’t been a full year yet (July 20—six days before her birthday—would mark a year since she had been in Paris).  
“Maria?” Adrien called. “We’re gonna go to meet Nino and Alya now.”  
“Going!” She called. She felt like her voice cracked.   
She walked towards and bumped into Mr. Agreste.  
“Sorry.” She squeaked.  
“It’s fine, Miss Balboa.” He said.  
“We really have to work on your social skills outside of the work setting, Boss.” She said with a laugh. “You’re incognito; you should refer to me as Maria so people don’t pay attention to us.”  
“You make it sound as if people are assuming the worst…” He said looking at her with a smug grin.  
“I would hardly think so, but you are notoriously formal. If someone out of boredom began to notice that you weren’t in your normal setting, your speech pattern would be a dead giveaway.” She said returning his smug look with one of her own.   
Mr. Agreste raised an eyebrow.   
“If we’re going to talk about how inconspicuous we are; you still refer to me as ‘Boss’ and that is just as suspicious.” He reiterated.   
“You haven’t indicated that I could call anything otherwise.” She said moving a bit closer to him to challenge him to try and fight back.   
“Then call me Gabriel.” He replied with a small smirk forming on his lips.  
“Are you two done flirting?” Adrien called. “We got to go!”  
Maria moved back and called back, “We’re coming! And we weren’t flirting!”   
She blushed as Adrien gave her a grin that could rival the Cheshire cat’s. Honestly, it was strange how cat like that boy was. She walked ahead quickly trying not to look at Mr. Agreste—Gabriel—to see his reaction to comment. She figured it was one of indifference but she sure as hell did not want to see it.   
****   
Gabriel felt that strange heat again. Adrien’s comment replayed over and over in his mind. He hadn’t been flirting… right? He was merely arguing with Maria. He always argued with Maria. It was their thing as soon they had actually started working together. Not that they had a thing.   
They didn’t as far as he was concerned.   
And he hadn’t been flirting, dammit!   
He took a deep breath ignoring that nagging feeling of Adrien probably being right. He walked behind Maria with little ease. He decided to walk a bit faster hoping that it would ease his sudden nervousness.   
“Paris is very big.” He said hoping the conversation would somehow make things less worse.  
“It is,” Maria said, “But Los Angeles is much bigger. And has a lot more to see.”   
“Rude.” He scoffed.  
“I’m not lying. I’ve lived there my whole life and there still a bunch of historic places that are like 15 minutes from my house that I haven’t been too!” She replied with an indignant huff.   
He raised an eyebrow. Where there so many historic places in Los Angeles?   
“Like what?” He asked letting his curiosity get the better of him.  
“I’ve never been to the Pio Pico house, the Sepulveda house, or seen where all the good murals from the Mexican American Muralist Movement are.” She said.   
“Those all sound fun.” He said.  
“They are. They have so much history that people don’t realize affects modern society today.” She said slowing down. “Are those two the other friends they were talking about?”  
Gabriel looked and saw the young man that he considered annoying. He nodded and replied, “That would be them.”   
“You don’t seem excited.” He could hear her teasing.  
“I am not. I suppose since Adrien is excited there isn’t much to do about it.” He replied with a shrug.   
“That’s good. Adrien seems really happy today.” Maria said.  
“I know.” Gabriel said looking at his son.   
Maria was right. Adrien was extremely happy today. He knew the boy had been doing worse as of late and he knew he was to blame. He had pretty much neglected him after what had happened with Clarisse. It had been too much and looking at Adrien physically pained him with how much he had inherited from his mother.  
“You know,” Maria began. “It’s good thing. I noticed a lot before he approached me that he seemed really lonely… and I was a bit worried that he might have clinical depression.”   
“Why would you think that?” Gabriel felt himself getting a bit defensive.   
“I’m just very familiar with the symptoms, is all,” She replied. “His actions screamed depression.”   
“I see.” Gabriel said looking at the floor.  
If Adrien had developed depression, it was most certainly his fault. He couldn’t bare the idea that he done that to his son’s psyche but at the same time it seemed completely plausible.  
“It’s not a bad thing.” Maria said. “Even if what happened before hadn’t happened, he would still probably develop it. Depression doesn’t need an excuse to develop, it just does.”   
“I see…” He said again.  
“Sorry,” He heard her say. “I’m just worried about him. I have a brother his age and sometimes I can’t help but worry since they’re both so young.”  
“You have a brother his age?” Gabriel said surprised at the information.  
“Yes, he’s the youngest of my siblings.” She said with a smile.   
“You have more siblings?” He asked turning to look at her.   
“I do.” She replied with a small smile.  
“How many?” He asked.  
“Why do you want to know?” She asked with a grin.  
“Curiousity, mainly, but also you don’t have any emergency contacts in your employment page.” He replied.  
“Always with work,” She said with a laugh. “I have five siblings; one older brother, Aaron, my twin sister, Adalina, and my three younger brothers, Arturo, Manolo, and Ezekiel.”  
“You have five siblings?” He said shocked.   
“I also have 30 first cousins on my mother’s side.” She said laughing at his shock. “I’m come from a bgi family.”  
“That must be nice.” He said.   
His family was significantly smaller. He had one brother and one sister and the three of them didn’t speak. He had probably one or two cousins in the countryside and his wife’s side had been just as small. Adrien didn’t have many cousins his own age. They were all pretty much newborns.   
“It’s not without its problems. There is absolutely no such thing as personal space and the holidays are just horrible.” She said. “Do you have any siblings, seeing as we’re prying?”  
“I have a brother and sister.” He replied.   
“Oh what are they like?” She asked.  
“They’re both a pain in the ass.” He replied turning as cold as he could.   
She smiled. “All siblings are.” She said softly.   
***   
Adrien took a quick glance back at his father and Maria before looking to Nino and Alya.  
“So guys… about the thing I needed you two for,” He began.  
“Are we helping your old man get laid?” Nino asked.  
“In a way. It’s part of my master to plan to get them to fall in love and married by the new school year!” Adrien explained in an excited whisper.   
Alya, Nino, and Marinette all looked at him strangely.  
“Adrien, that is not enough time to form a functioning relationship.” Marinette said.   
“Pigtail’s is right bro, that’s not enough.” Nino said shaking his head.   
Adrien pouted. His plan was great and fool proof! All he had to do was take his dad and Maria around the city in a non-suspicious manner and take them to the more romantic parts of Paris and then they would slowly fall into the romantic mood and notice each other—well more like his father would take notice of Maria—and then they would fall in love, date for a short time before deciding to get married in a quiet ceremony, and then they would all live happily ever after.   
“My plan is great!” He huffed.  
“Adrien, I think we should just let things happen naturally.” Marinette said. “It won’t work if you try to force it. Let’s just let them have fun today. From there we’ll see.”  
“Aaaw.” He huffed.  
“Adrien you’re being a baby.” Alya said patting his back. “Honestly, if you wanted to do this, you should’ve set it up to where they’re in a more comfortable environment, because your dad looks horrified to be with people.”  
“To be fair, he wasn’t always so awkward.” Adrien said putting an arm around Marinette.  
“A-adrien?” She squeaked.  
“Huh, what?” He asked. Didn’t friends do that? Suddenly his father’s previous words came to mind. “Sorry.”  
“So what now?” Nino asked, obviously amused at his social faux pas.   
“I guess we could go to the street vendors?” Marinette said. “Maria mentioned that she loved going to those once when she was showing me some of her work. Plus, they have some cheap fabric I want to look into.”  
“And they have great stuff for phones!” Alya added.  
“I’ve never been!” Adrien exclaimed. “We got to just inform the adult supervision.”   
***   
Maria shifted her weight from foot to another. Really all this waiting around was getting annoying and only confirmed her suspicions that something fishy was going on. She looked to Mr. Agreste—ahem, Gabriel—and then back to the blond who stood in a conspiring position with his friends.  
“Something fishy is going one.” She said.  
“You just noticed?” He said crossing his arms. “I figured something was fishy after he stated that he had plans already.”   
“He usually informs you a week ahead in case of photo shoots, right?” She said looking at him.  
“Yes.” Gabriel said. “This should be quite interesting to say the least.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SCREAMS BECAUSE IT'S TOO LONG AND I'M STILL NOT DONE WITH THIS OUTING
> 
> ALSO, I do have a head cannon that Adrien might be suffering just because of reasons.
> 
> Please review :D


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> whew I was hoping to end this day with puns but nooo... there will be a pun battle though. You can't have a fic with out a pun battle

Maria was pleasantly surprised when she saw the markets. She recalled the Sunday trips to the swap meet that were just as hectic and she felt herself becoming excited. It was like being a kid again. There were various people selling all sorts of fruits and the scent of roses hit her nose.   
“This place is amazing…” She whispered looking around.   
“Hey dad, do you guys want to split into groups and meet at the café for dinner?” Adrien called.  
“I suppose so.” He said.   
“I guess I’m with you?” Maria said with a laugh. “You’re screwed. I have to stop at everything.”   
“It’ll be fine.” Gabriel said with stern look. “I’ve been in worse situations.”   
“Let me see if I can top it then.” She said with a giggle. “Ooh! Antiques!”   
Maria ran when she caught sight of the small vendor selling the antiques. She looked around excitedly feeling her inner child come out rather easily. She looked around taking a minute to enjoy the designs before. The vendor was selling antique jewelry and tea sets which made her want to squeal.  
*****   
Gabriel watched as Maria quickly sped off and then looked to the four teens that started walking away. He tried to hold back his frown before making his way to the vendor where Maria was. He wasn’t going because he wanted too. It was mainly because he feared the woman had about as much sense of direction as a blind wombat.   
He looked in the stall wondering if anything in there was authentic. Looking at the prices told him that they weren’t. He looked to Maria who was inspecting a brooch.  
“See something interesting?” He asked hoping to make her jump. He had noted in the time she worked with him that if she was distracted, she would be easily startled by any sound. A part of him always found amusement in that terror. Not that he did it often—well not so often that she would realize it was on purpose. Nathalie usually did the startling for him.   
“Nope,” She said turning to him. “I just like looking at the sparkles.”  
“You sound like a child.” He stated with a frown.  
“I know how to have fun and let loose,” She replied with a huff. “Unlike a certain person. Besides, aren’t you supposed to be making nice today?”  
“I am not nice.” He stated simply.   
He wasn’t nice at all. In fact most considered him quite ruthless. And he preferred it that way. He watched as a teasing smile graced the young woman’s features. Something told him that not being nice would mean hell to pay.   
“If you insist.” She said.  
“I do.” He replied giving her a challenging smile.  
“If you intend to fight me, please note, we’re in my comfort zone now, Gabriel.” She said emphasizing his name.  
Oh two could play at this game and he would most certainly win.   
*****   
Maria smirked as she watched her boss waiting for him to say something.   
He moved a bit forward and said, “I’m quite adaptable. I’m simply waiting for you to slip like earlier.”   
She blushed furiously. “It was an accident. Now excuse me I want to buy the brooch.” She said feeling herself get pissed.   
She walked to the vendor who was a lovely old woman with many wrinkles wearing a simple floral dress with her silver hair pulled into a neat little bun. Her soft brown eyes gave a knowing look. Whatever she knew made Maria curious.  
“Good day.” Maria greeted.  
“Good day to you, my dear. How are you?” the old woman asked leaning on the counter.   
“I’m fine, thank you. I hope you day is going well, too?” She said smiling politely.  
“Oh I’m well. I was visited by a wave of nostalgia from when I was your age, actually.” The old woman said.   
“Oh really?” Maria asked. She loved indulging older people. They always had some amazing stories to tell and it had helped much with her studies in the long run.   
“Yes. Ah to be young and in love.” The old woman said with a wistful smile.   
“Pardon?” Maria said looking to Gabriel who seemed to have distracted himself with one of the boxes that had dresses.   
“You know, when I was your age, I was involved with an older gentleman myself,” the old woman began. “He was a Scotsman who was here in the 60s for business. We had quite the affair. Older men tend to be passionate lovers, you see, and it was a scandal. He was married to a baroness and I was poor flower vendor at the time. The brooch you’re buying was a gift from him. It has matching cufflink sets.”  
“Are you sure you should be selling it then?” She asked looking at the brooch.  
The brooch itself was a simple one that had sapphire stones in it with a simple silver holding.  
“Of course! He bought them off one of his generals during the second war. According to the general, it helps with love affairs to have a happy ending. None of my children had to deal with scandalous love affairs, and none of my grandchildren had that problem!” The old woman said.  
“I’ll just take the brooch.” Maria said bouncing her leg to keep herself calm. “And I’m not having a passionate affair.”  
“So you and that gentleman weren’t flirting at all, right now?” The woman said with a teasing smirk. “Well take the cufflinks as a free gift for indulging an old woman with a bit of conversation.”   
“Thank you.” She said pulling out her wallet.   
The old woman smiled at her before going to the back.  
Gabriel had materialized next to her.  
“Are you done?” He asked.  
“Yes, I just have to give her money and then we’re off.” She said. “Pardon me for indulging an old woman itching for conversation.”   
“I never knew you to be so polite.” He said.  
“I can be quite nice when I need to be, unlike some people.” She replied.   
“I can be nice; I just don’t want to be.” He said.  
She frowned and turned to him. “You should try it sometimes, or would it physically pain you?” she challenged.   
“I could try, but where would be the fun in that.” He said with a smirk.  
“You’re an ass.” She said finally.  
“Yes, but I am ass who still signs your paycheck.” He said.   
“Ugh. End me.” She whispered in anguish.   
******   
Gabriel was glad they had gotten out of that vendor but was surprised that Maria had meant it when she said she would stop at everything. She had in fact stopped at everything. Most of the conversations had been a combination of:  
“Ooh what’s this?”  
“I love this!”  
“Are you done here?”   
“It’s just a trinket.”   
And so on. But he would never admit it was fun. He wondered if Adrien was having fun with his friends exploring the entire area of vendors.   
“Old books!” He heard Maria squeal.   
He followed her to a small shop that had quite a selection of books that were obviously much older than they looks.   
“I wonder if they have a copy of the original beauty and the beast by Madame Villeneuve! Or maybe even a copy of the Three Musketeers!” He heard her mumbling to herself in excitement.  
“You’ve read the Three Musketeers?” He asked.  
She looked at him with a big smile and nodded excitedly as they entered.   
“I’ve read most of Alexandre Dumas Works! I loved reading his stories back in high school! I think I scared my teachers with the fact that I read The Three Musketeers and The Man in the Iron Mask in one sitting.” She said.  
“You did?” he asked.   
“I did!” She said looking around. “I love reading. It’s amazing. Do you like to read?”  
“A few things here and there, mostly Voltaire and Locke.” He replied with a shrug. He wasn’t much a reader but he did enjoy the writings of the enlightenment era. They always had fascinated him in the way that they had managed to ignite the cries of revolution in the same way he hoped fashion would.   
“Have you read Memoirs of a Black Cat by Thomas Bonheur?” she asked holding a book in front of him.   
“I have not,” He replied taking it gently from her hands. “What is it about?”  
“It’s a memoir of a previous chat noir,” she explained. “It explains where Robespierre got his extreme fear of cats from.”  
“Really? You look quite familiar with it.” He said opening it.  
“I have copy in English at home. I managed to find a translated version which was rare since the novel was not that popular at all. Best one hundred dollars I ever spent. I still love reading it.” She said smiling. “It’s so sad.”  
“How so?” He asked looking at her. She didn’t look happy despite the smile.  
“Thomas talks about how he watched his lover be guillotined for crying over the death of her brother who was the only family he had left. It was sad because they were teenagers when this happened. Could you imagine being fifteen and watching the person you love die.” She said looking at the book.  
“You get too emotionally invested.” He commented.  
“You make it sound like a bad thing.” She said.  
“It’s not. I recall reading your entire essay on the need for Ethical and Ethnic teachings in fashion. They were full of passion and I was mighty impressed with someone who had really only been exposed to the industry for a short time had a better grasp of the progress that is happening than most designers who have been at this for years.” He said.   
“You read my essay?” She squeaked.   
He looked at her and saw that she was excited. For a moment it was as if all the stars gathered together in her eyes to make them so bright that he felt for a moment everything would stop. He had never seen her so utterly and unabashedly happy.  
“I did.” He replied with a nod.  
“Oh my god! You have no idea how happy that makes me!” She said trying to keep herself from jumping up and down with joy.  
“And why would such a simple thing warrant such a reaction?” He asked. He was not slightly unhappy—he wasn’t really—but why had the mention of that essay excited her?  
“None of the other companies who sent me offers even mentioned it and that kind of pissed me off, Y’know.” She said with a big smile.  
“I don’t.” he replied.  
“Well I poured all my time and effort when I wasn’t learning how to design or present or adapt myself into that essay. That was four years without break of nonstop research and going and asking around people’s homes as well as mindless searches online and various obscure sources I could find as well as observation for that essay. So just having people look through that work kind of offended me.” She said with a laugh. “I’m gonna go look for my fairy tales now.”  
He nodded briefly then looked at the book. He had not realized that such a novel existed and his curiosity was piqued. It was rare to have any actual text about the superheroes except people’s experiences and a few hieroglyphics here and there.   
“Where there Akumas in the US?” He found himself asking.  
“Yep! They were in LA,” She replied looking through another shelf. “I’ve been caught in quite a few akuma attacks.”  
“What were they like?” He asked following the suit.  
“Well they were pretty nasty compared to the ones here, but I guess that’s because Los Angeles could get pretty violent in some areas.” She said stopping at one particular book.   
“How bad could they get?” He asked slightly horrified. He had always thought the Akumas in Paris were bad but apparently they were very tame compared to others.  
“I have a scar on my back from one.” She replied simply looking at the book.   
“You do?” He asked trying to conceal the concern he…. Wait why would he be concerned? This was Maria. Pain in the ass Maria. Pain in the ass who was apparently very easily excited Maria. Plus the scar she had was probably from a while ago. He had no attachments to her—except Adrien who absolutely adored her presence.   
“Yep. My parents were pissed when they found out I got a tattoo over it!” She said with a triumphant smirk. “My 21st birthday was a good day.”   
His mind blanked. All that could he think of was a bare backed Maria. He turned back to the book shelf and away from Maria who was clearly more distracted with her book. He, on the other hand, felt an issue. The day had suddenly felt longer and harder. He was going to have to take a nice long ice bath after this day.   
****   
Adrien looked around the fabric stall that he had followed Marinette, too. All the fabrics where pretty in his opinion, but he wouldn’t be able to tell if they were quality or not. He was never good at telling. For someone who was a part of the fashion industry he knew moot shit about it.   
“Hey, Marinette?” he called looking at a pretty blue fabric.  
“Yeah?” she replied looking up from a box of fabrics.   
“What do you think about this one?” he asked lifting it up.  
She eyed and said, “Oh wow that’s so pretty!”  
She quickly ran up to him and began to inspect the fabric. He watched as she felt the material before turning to him with a big grin.  
“This is perfect!!” She squealed in joy.”  
“Did you need a fabric like that?” He asked shoving his hands into his pockets.  
“Yeah, Manon, you remember her from last summer right,” Marinette began. “She wants a Cinderella dress and her birthday is coming up soon so I decided to make her one so she can be Cinderella!”   
“Oh that’s precious.” He said with a smile. “I think you would make a pretty princess too.”  
“I-uuuh….what?” She said looking at him with a wide eyed blush.  
Okay, maybe that had not been his brightest moment.  
“D-do you think your dad and Maria have killed each other, yet?” Marinette said hastily changing the subject. He was grateful for that.   
“I don’t think so. Dad still thinks she’s useful so if she died he would have conniption.” He said with a shrug.  
“Maria said that they’re always at each other’s throats.” Marinette said looking at the fabric again.  
“Have you ever been with your parents when they’re arguing about something but it’s underlying with this weird tension that makes you want to leave them in a close so you can get a piece of mind?” Adrien began. “That is them being at each other’s throats.”   
“You’re joking.” Marinette said looking at him wide eyed.  
Adrien nodded ‘no.’ He had been caught in many of their bouts which really was rather amusing. His father would never let anyone get away with half the thing that had happened within the last five months that he had become closer to her.  
“How has she not been fired?” she asked.  
“I asked my dad once and he replied that she was an asset that he really could not afford to lose.” He said with a shrug.   
“I wonder why.” Marinette mumbled.  
“It’s probably because she had about six other offers.” Adrien said.  
“Six?” Marinette asked.   
“Yeah, she was like some American prodigy that even the vogue editor was thoroughly impressed with despite not being in fashion that long. My dad showed me some of her portfolio and it was kind of freaky to see her progress in a year.” He explained.   
“That’s amazing.” She said.  
“You’re really talented, too.” He said. “My dad keeps your hat in his special inventory.”  
“He does?” She squeaked.  
“Yep,” He said. “As he put it, you have an amazing talent that is only hindered by the fact that you only have access to pretty basic tools and that you don’t have much time to focus on fashion completely.”   
“Oh wow…” She said taking a deep breath.  
“I think that too,” He said quietly enough for her to hear.  
“You’re gonna make me combust.” She mumbled.  
He grinned and said, “Friends complement each other right? I’m not saying any lies about your work though. It’s amazing.”  
“Thanks, Adrien… Your modeling stuff is great.” She said.  
He frowned. “I guess.” He mumbled.  
“You don’t really care about it do you?” She asked.  
“Eh, it’s not my passion. I really like physics though. I can do that stuff in my sleep!” He said with a big grin.   
“I noticed,” She said with a light smile. “You have the highest grade in our class.”   
*****   
Maria was surprised when Mr. Agreste—ahem, Gabriel—had paid for both their books without as much as a word. Before she could even say anything it had been done. So she kept her eyes out to buy a treat for him as thanks. After all she had been raised with manners.   
She noted a fruit stand and then looked at her companion for the day.  
“Do you want some fruit?” She asked.   
“I suppose it sounds a-peel-ing at the moment.” He said with a smirk.  
“No bananas, go it! I’ll be right back.” She said running to the fruit stand.  
The fruit vendor gave a shake of his head as soon as he saw her which caused her to slow down. Something told her things were not going to be pretty. She placed a polite smile on her face.   
“Good afternoon.” She greeted.  
“Good afternoon.” The vendor said with a frown.  
“How much are the grapes?” She asked.  
“Why do you need to know…” He said looking at her and then at Gabriel who was looking at another stall with a bit of disgust. “Isn’t he a bit too old for you?”  
“How much are the grapes.” She repeated with a bit more force.  
“Look, it’s not my business to comment,” The vendor began. “But that is very inappropriate of you.”  
“Sir, I’m just trying to buy some grapes.” She said through gritted teeth.  
“Look, I suggest you go before I call the police. That kind of stuff shouldn’t be done outside of a brothel.” The vendor.  
“What the hell are you talking about? I’m just asking how much the grapes cost!” She yelled.   
She took a deep breath and walked away before she lost more of her cool. That man had been treating her as if she had done something wrong! What was wrong with being out with an older attractive gentleman who she was not related to! And not to mention they weren’t doing anything illegal. They were literally just walking through the area!   
*****   
Gabriel had heard a familiar shrill voice which caused him to look back. He saw Maria stomping towards him.   
“Is everything fine?” He asked.  
“It is but I think I need to go home now. I’m not feeling well.” She mumbled.   
“I suppose so, would you like me and Adrien to escort you back?” He asked noting that she looked like she was about ready to kill a man. He figured that she was plotting the death of the fruit vendor he kept looking at them like they were some sort of sacrilegious relic.   
“I’m fine. Adrien probably wants to spend time with his friends and his father.” She replied balling her hands into fists. He heard her mumble under her breath in another language that he couldn’t really pick up.   
“Adrien won’t mind if I go with you.” He said. “Plus, I’m tired of all this walking and socializing. It’s annoying.”   
She let out a small snort.  
And he was slightly proud that he had gotten a reaction out of her.  
And he was thankful that Adrien wasn’t there to make a comment.  
She said, “Well let’s go find them and inform them that the adults are done for the day.”   
*******   
Finding them had been easy enough, Maria thought, but it had been explaining to them that they both wanted to go home that made it hard.  
“Are you guys sure?” Adrien repeated. “We’re gonna go to the Le Seine.”  
“I’m sure, Adrien, my feet are killing me and your dad’s a misanthrope who had dealt with enough people for the day.” She said.   
“Aaaw fine.” He huffed. “But you had fun right?”  
“I did, kid.” She said. “I’ll see you at work tomorrow, okay? You got a photo-shoot you need to be all dolled up for!”  
Adrien gave a small smile before hugging her and then his father. She almost laughed at Mr. Agreste’s face. He looked thoroughly confused by the act of affection and unsure of how to proceed. It had resulted with and awkward pat on his part.   
****   
Gabriel really felt awkward after receive a hug from his son mainly because he was not a hugger. Hell he kissed his wife on the cheek when they had gotten married because he felt awkward about kissing her in front of all the people that had been there.   
He was happy to be going home, though. He sat in the back the limo trying not to glance at the young woman who was in there with him. She was engrossed with her book. It was obvious from her face that her French was no sufficient enough for her to go through it as quickly as she had claimed she could go through a book.   
“We’re here.” The chauffer announced.   
Maria looked up and then at him.  
“Thank you both for the ride.” She said moving to exit the car.   
Gabriel got out as well, seeing as he was in her way. He noticed a tall young man with dark skin and dark hair standing in front of her building with a few suit cases. He looked to Maria who seemed excited to see him.  
“Bye!” She said rushing past him to greet the young man.  
He frowned when he saw them embrace. He quickly got back in the car ignoring the strange and uncomfortable feeling in his stomach.  
****  
“Oh, my gosh, Ronny!” She exclaimed. “What the hell are you doing in Paris?”  
“Well I have some work here and thought to myself, why not free load off my cute little sister and see if she has any hot guy friends for me!” Ronny explained.  
“I have a few for you to get your claws into, you whore!” She said hugging him again. “And thank god you came! I was feeling a bit homesick today!”   
“Even better, by the way,” He said with a grin. “Was that the boss that mom was yelling about, because girl, good job. He has the nicest ass I’ve ever seen!”   
“Oh hush.” She said. “Let’s go inside!”  
“Sweetie, if you don’t sleep with him soon, I will!” Aaron said with a laugh picking up his suitcases.   
“I will end you if you do, hoe!” She said with a giggle. “That ass is mine.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hahaha I just wanted an excuse to write a bit of jealous gabriel XD
> 
> but yay we get to meet some of Maria's family!


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter was fun because I got to right sexually frustrated, asshole boss, and totally not jealous, gabriel agreste. Special thanks to Ptolomeia who helped with some of this and did me a kawaii reading of the opening part of this.

Gabriel Agreste was not having a good morning. In fact that morning was particularly horrible. He was no stranger to bodily desire but it had been the first time in twenty years that he had to wake up and take a very cold shower.   
“Fuck.” he muttered remembering that it was Thursday. That was when his room was thoroughly cleaned.   
He ran a hand through his hair taking a deep breath of frustration. How had things gotten this strange this fast? He had been fine despite that horrible feeling he had developed after leaving Maria at her house. And there was the name to his horrible morning.   
He had not expected her to invade his sleep and lure him into her. But she hadn't really. It was all him; her seduction, her kisses, her heat, they had all been his imagination… and it left him wanting more. His curiosity had been piqued. Especially after learning she had a tattoo. After that all he wanted to do was trace his fingers along the contours of it.   
No.   
No.   
No.   
NO.   
He didn't want to do any of that with her—despite how tempting it was. She was Maria for fucks sake. She was also significantly younger. She could practically be his own child (it's only a 17 year age difference, his mind whispered). She was also his employee which already made matters worse.  
And there was Adrien to think about. The boy had become attached to her. He didn’t know if he wanted to ruin that for his son. He had a tendency to ruin any happy relationships the boy without meaning to, so that was completely out of the question.  
Not that it was ever in question to begin with.   
*******   
Maria awoke to the loudness of Celia Cruz. She wanted to punch Aaron for playing music so early in the morning but also thank him because she had to get up anyways. She stretched before walking into the kitchen.  
“Buenos dias, bruja!” He called. (Good Morning, witch)  
“Go fuck yourself.” She replied. “What’cha cooking?”  
“Eggs with ham and coffee, we need a proper breakfast… how the hell do you survive marinating and preparing your own meat?” He replied pouring a cup of coffee for her.   
“Ugh, don’t get me started. It’s kind of hellish.” She said. “So what do you have to do for the day?”  
“Well, I gotta meet with my boss, then I’m meeting with our client, then I have a hot date, so don’t wait up for me. And if you are gonna be up, it better be because you’re doing some freaky shit with the hot boss.” He replied with a wiggle of his eyebrows.  
“You have a date? Congrats,” She said. “I’m not screwing the boss.”  
“Yet.” Aaron added with a grin. “Anyways, do you have Wi-Fi? I wanna chat with Lina later.”   
“I have Wi-Fi, pendejo.” She said. “I gotta get ready for work in a bit. What do you think I should wear?”  
“Something that show’s off that tattoo you got. You got that one shirt that you made specifically for that, didn’t you hoe?” He said sipping his own cup of coffee.   
“Yeah but that one has a push up bra built into it and honestly it was mostly for shits and giggles.” She said with a shrug.  
“Girl, go for it. You need to show off those things if you want to get his attention. He’s a heterosexual man, I’m sure the sight of your boobs and that tattoo will be enough to set him off edge.” He said with a smirk. “Add some skinny jeans and no one will be able to keep their eyes off you.”  
“Nope. I have to wear professional clothing; that is a clubbing outfit.” She said with a laugh.  
“Fine, ruin my fun!” he huffed.  
“I am. You should wear those skin tight jeans that’ll let your boy toy figure what’s gonna happen tonight if he plays it right.” She said with a smirk.  
“I’m going to wear a v-neck so that he can know that it’s gonna be on like donkey kong.” He said with a grin.   
“Who the heck even says that anymore?” Maria asked with a laugh.  
******   
Maria walked into work glad that she had not taken her brother’s advice. Waiting for her at her usual work table was Alessandro Carelli. She frowned and made her way to her table.  
“May I help you?” She asked keeping her voice even.  
“I wanted to apologize for Tuesday.” He said quietly.  
“Okay, apology accepted; please go away.” She replied. “I have some sketches to work on.”  
“Does this mean you forgive me?” He asked giving her a hopeful look.  
“Look… No.” She said. “Now go work on your projects, I have shit to do.”   
“I know I was over reacting…” He began.  
Before either could speak Gabriel—ahem, Mr. Agreste—walked in with an irritated look on his face. He looked at Alessandro with a frown.  
“Mr. Carelli, a word.” He said motioning to his office.   
Maria blinked once and then looked at Alessandro who seemed frozen. The Blond looked at her with a look of terror and then at his boss.  
“Eer… now?” He squeaked.  
“I believe I just made myself clear that it was now.” He replied; there was something off about his voice. He sounded more angry than usual. Part of her was afraid that she had offended him yesterday but it was outweighed by the gratefulness of having Alessandro Carelli leave her alone.  
******   
Gabriel walked into his office trying not to lose his cool. His day had felt like a mess and it had yet to be nine in the morning. He was rather irate and Alessandro Carelli was not helping. The man had been tethering on a thin line and Gabriel was tired of dealing with him. He did not like people who did not understand the meaning of “NO.”  
He sat down and watched as the younger man sat down.  
“Do you know why you are here?” He asked.  
“Um… No?” Mr. Carelli replied.  
“I have a project you need to complete… or else.” He said leaning forward.   
“O-or else?” Carelli asked looking at him in terror.  
Gabriel grinned maniacally. He had finally found the perfect punishment for the man who was obviously becoming an annoyance, to put it lightly, to the female employees as of late.  
“Or else, I will fire you and ensure you never get another job in this industry.” He said smiling while lacing his fingers together.   
“W-what is it, sir?” He asked obvious horrified at the prospect of losing his job.  
“Expect a full line for one Miss Bourgeois in three hours.” He said.  
“I-I can do that!” Carelli exclaimed gaining confidence.  
Gabriel smiled. He had kept his wording as vague as possible to get the young man riled up and confident. Oh how fun it would be to break him.   
“Then get to it.” He said.   
The younger man left quickly leaving Gabriel to his thoughts. He frowned when he looked through the open door to see the same man from yesterday. The man was the same who had appeared in front of Miss Balboa’s apartment, the very same man who she had sprinted to hug him, and the very same one who made him feel a horrible feeling his stomach.  
He looked to Miss Balboa he seemed to laugh at what he was saying before pointing him to his direction. He frowned as he watched the young man strut towards him and it grew when noticed the affectionate look that she gave him.   
Nope.   
That was the first thing that came to his mind.   
The young man entered and said, “Good morning, Mr. Maria’s boss!”  
“Good Morning, who are you?” He replied.  
“My name’s Ron, I’m the guy from the Security Company you called for. I just got here from Andalusia yesterday.” Ron said. “May I sit?”   
“Of course.” He said motioning for him to sit.   
“Thanks, Mr. Maria’s boss.” He said with a grin. “So anyways, you say you want Web Security right? Do you know where your security risks are?”  
“I’m not tech savvy.” He replied trying to keep himself composed.   
Why was he so irritated anyways? This person and Maria’s relationship was none of his business and frankly he was not one to care. She was nothing to him anyways. She was just an employee. He didn’t care.   
“Ooh, who can lead me to your main computer? I can work for there and then give them the information, does Maria know? Because if she does you’re fucked. She only understands how to make a car work. Ask her to code and suddenly she’s a chicken without a head.” Ron said with a grin. “You know what! I will have a guy come work with you guys personally or if you want I can be your personal tech guy!”   
“I…” What was he supposed to say? He didn’t know jack shit about computers. He could work on his phone or from a laptop easily but the system behind it was like a foreign language.  
“Tell you what, I do my thing, set up everything and I’ll come in every day to check it and from there you can talk with my boss and we’ll make a system for you.” Ron said. “So the main computer, is it yours? Because if it is, we’re gonna have a bit of a space issue.”   
“Theodora in the front desk will lead you to it.” He replied.  
“Oooh by the way, you might have shaky internet connection for like a few hours. So if you need to do any emails, video conferences or stuff like that, I suggest you do it now.” Ron said. “Also, do you know what time Maria gets out for lunch? She promised me croissants.”  
“None of that was scheduled for today, for your arrival Mr… Ron. As for Miss Balboa, I am not sure what time she leaves for lunch. Ask her yourself.” He said with a frown.  
“Ugh… she’s in her design mood right now, though.” He whined.  
“I hope you are aware that we’re in professional setting…” He said glaring at him.  
“I don’t do professionalism; it hinders my performance when I work. If you don’t mind, Mr. Maria’s boss, I’m gonna go,” He said. “By the way, even if it weren't for the obvious reason, I'm too young for her.”   
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Gabriel asked while the man practically strutted away with a grin on his face.   
*******   
Maria frowned as she looked over her sketches from Tuesday. They were not as great as she thought. Maybe a conference with Eponine would help. She had been the one working on the dress originally. She looked over it and wondered if bead work would actually look good with it in the long run.   
“Hey Maria, who was the hunk here earlier?” Maria looked up and was surprised to see the dark skinned girl in question looking at her with a grin.  
“My older brother, I wouldn’t bother though.” She said with a laugh.  
“Why not?” Eponine said taking a seat next to him.  
“He’s as gay as they come and he has a hot date later. Odds are, he’s gonna try and take me clubbing with him this weekend.” She said with a laugh. “Thank god I have shit ton of work.”  
“You’re the only person I know who’s happy about the workload the boss gives.” She muttered.  
“You’ve not met my family. I love them but personal space and privacy are considered offensive so extra work means less time dealing with Aaron.” She said laughing as well.   
“Oh he can’t be that bad!” Eponine said.  
“He’s not, but that busy body always has to make someone do something that’ll cause the walk of shame and the need for confession.” She said. “Anyways, can you help me?”  
“Oh with what?” Eponine asked  
“I’m looking over the dress remake and I was hoping to see your sketches!” She said. “I wanna make sure your designs are at least noted in the making. I know you were excited about try the dress.”  
“I was but suits are my forte. You should’ve had the dress from the beginning.” Eponine said with a sigh. “If you want, I can give you sketches and help with Adrien’s version of the suit.”  
“Oh my god that would be a big help.” Maria cried in joy.  
“Let’s get started! Honestly, I’m glad François and Leonard are back in marketing, they’re horrible in the design aspect.” She said.  
“Oh well, at least they know how to get us buyers.” Maria said.   
********   
It had been three hours and Gabriel had a very satisfied smirk on his face. Oh this was going to be fun. He finally had an excuse to get rid of that sore.   
Everyone looked at him confused for that grin.  
“Boss?” Maria asked looking at him with confusion. “Is everything okay? You’re smiling.”  
“Oh I’m fine. I just have to check on the project, I gave Mr. Carelli.” He said feeling his grin grow. He did like this part of his job.   
“You gave Carelli a project?” He heard Miss Laura say.  
“Yes, it was supposed to be done now.” He said.   
Both women looked at him and then at each other before getting up to follow him. He lost his smirk when he entered the area Carelli was in. He wanted to instill fear and make that the young man had not actually realized what had happened.  
“Mr. Agreste! I just finished what you asked!” He announced showing him a mood board and a few sketches and some flats.  
He frowned.  
Carelli’s faced dropped.  
“Mr. Carelli, are you aware of what I meant when I said full line, I meant I wanted sewn products as well.” He asked inspecting the boards. “For three hours works this is terrible. I have collages that my son made in less time that have finesse and organization than your mood boards. Are you aware of the consequences of this work?”  
“Boss… please I can do this over and have sewn samples.” Carelli began.  
“I don’t care to hear it. Come back on Sunday to pick up your last paychecks. Don’t bother asking for a reference letter.” Gabriel said. “If you cannot listen to instructions, then I have no interest in dealing with you.”  
“I… I got it sir.” He said.   
Gabriel walked away letting a smug smile cross his face to the other employees who had been watching. Miss Balboa looked him straight in the eye and gave a small barely noticeable smile to him. Somehow, the day that started out bad seemed so much better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Carelli's situation and why he hasn't been reported will be explained next chapter. I promise and puns will come soon
> 
> Please Review.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> guess who's back, back once again. Anyways! I would love to dedicate chapter to fullmetalpotterhead and ptolomeia who really inspired most of the end part :D

Aaron was having a field day. He had a hot date later with a cute artist named Theo who he met online on one of his chat rooms—they had been a thing but not actually dating until he mentioned he was in France for work then after that two made plans to go have dinner at his place. He also had the perfect opportunity to not only annoy the shit out of his sister but also see the hot boss she mentioned once in an email. And he was going to get croissants. Yep it was a good day.  
Normally he would’ve stopped his meddling and sly comments but the commotion he had seen had grabbed his attention. He observed from a distance his younger sister and her said person who she desired to place her affections on as they took a look at each other. His eyebrows raised in amusement as he realized what this spectacle was.   
Oh boy.  
That man really did not know how to be subtle. Aaron had to stop himself from grinning like the Cheshire cat who knew which maid the king of hearts was screwing. But he couldn’t help it. It had been spectacular to watch especially when he saw the small smile grace his sister’s lips and the smug look on the bastard’s face as he walked back to his office.   
Oh boy indeed.  
He waited until the guy had left to go approach his sister. Once both he and the boss were out of hearing distance he walked towards her and the young lady next to her.   
“What happened?” He asked feigning ignorance. “Did I miss something?”  
“Boss finally fired Carelli.” He heard the dark skinned girl next to his sister said with a smile on her face.   
“Eh is that a good thing?” He asked.  
“Yep. Carelli has a history of harassing a lot of the ladies here and being a piece of shit generally speaking.” Maria explained.  
“Why didn’t you report him?” He asked. If the guy had been a harasser then human resources would obviously have had to do something.  
“We tried a couple of times. Eponine was the last to go before we gave up. Theodora refused to pretty much file them each time.” Maria said pointing to the girl he now knew was named Eponine.   
“Yep. So pretty much all the girls here had to have a pair of scissors nearby in case he tried to get aggressive. I didn’t know boss had noticed.” Eponine said.  
“Hey who was his most recent attempt?” Aaron asked. He knew the answer but the timing for pissing off Maria was just perfect.   
“Me… what’s with that look?” Maria said glaring at him with suspicion.   
“Nothing~!” He sang. “I’m gonna go finish and then you can buy me my croissants.”  
“It better be nothing or you’re gonna have to go back to the US to get grandma to help your ass…” She hissed.  
“Please no witchcraft! It took grandma three eggs last time to free me from your curse!” He whined before running off.  
****   
“You used witchcraft on your brother?” Eponine asked.  
Maria gave a wry smile and nodded.  
“Why?”  
“He told me I looked like a pink gorilla in a dress I really liked.”  
“I would use witchcraft on your brother if I was you too.”  
******   
Gabriel frowned as he made his way to photo shoot that had been scheduled for that day. He of course was glad to be rid of Carelli but that meant looking for another leather expert. Luckily Italy had many of those. He just needed the best that Italy could offer. Or perhaps he could start looking elsewhere. That was always an option.  
He saw Adrien chatting happily with Maria. He did not smile—he was at work—but instead walked up to them.  
“Adrien, Miss Balboa.” He greeted.  
“Hey boss. UGH NO FAIR!” He was startled by the quick change of her expression from one of a polite hello to indignation.  
“What’s not fair, Maria?” Adrien asked with a teasing smirk.  
Gabriel raised an eyebrow and looked to Miss Balboa who was pouting.   
“Please do elaborate, Miss Balboa.” He added.  
“You’re both too tall!” She huffed. “Why the heck is that?”   
“Is that a problem, I thought you looked up to me?” Gabriel asked. Oh this was going to be fun. As far as he knew, she hated puns.  
“Well dad, you gotta hand it to her, she’s tiny.” Adrien said as he draped an arm over her shoulder.  
“I’m not tiny! I’m five foot eight! I’m one of the taller people in my family.” She said with a frown crossing her arms.   
“Then what’s the problem. I’m only 5’11, dad’s 6’3? Or is it because it’s cold down there?” Adrien asked.  
“I’m closer to hell than both of you, keep it up.” She scoffed.   
“You know, I thought short people maintained a higher view of things, you’re always looking up.” Gabriel said moving to her other side.  
“I’m gonna punch you two one of this days.” She muttered huffing out her cheeks again.  
“You can’t even reach my face.” Gabriel said letting a smirk slip.  
“You’ve sunken low enough for me to reach.” She said turning to give him a glare.  
“Ooh don’t let her glare too much. She might put witchcraft upon you two.” Gabriel’s mood shifted easily with the presence of the web security coordinate, Mr. Ron.   
“And I suppose you speak from Experience?” Gabriel asked standing up a bit straighter.   
“Che. Of course! Have you ever had witch craft upon you? That shit is horrible. Maria’s brujeria took three eggs and five hail Maries to get rid of.” Mr. Ron said. “Are you going to buy me my ham and cheese croissants or not, Maria?”  
“I’m going, I just had to make sure that Adrien was set up and that some pieces where in order, jerk.” She said with a twist of her lip. “Well, gentlemen I am off. It’s my lunch time. I will see you all in 15 minutes for hell!”  
“Bye…” All three males said at the same time.  
Maria strutted when she walked away, as Gabriel noticed—not that he was checking. But it did do wonders for her rear… again he wasn’t looking.  
“Man how do you deal with her?” Mr. Ron said. “I think she’s more ready to fight here. I remember her when she was so mousy and shy.”   
“I supposed you would know that.” He muttered.  
“I do. It’s a knowing situation.” Mr. Ron said with a grin.   
“Well, knowledge is power.” He replied.  
“Hey dad, the shoot?” Adrien said.  
“Right, well now I suppose you’ll be off?” Gabriel said.  
“Well yeah but there was the person who sent ten different puns to friends with the hope that at least one of the puns would make them laugh. Unfortunately, NO PUN IN TEN DID.” Mr. Ron said with a grin. “You know, Maria is a pun lover. That’s the best way to her heart.”   
“I’m sure she enjoys the heart attack.” He replied frowning.  
He looked to Adrien who looked at him like he was doing something wrong. What was he doing wrong? He looked to the man who had a devilish smirk on his face.  
“Well Mr. Agreste, I’m sure you enjoy giving her heart attacks.” Mr. Ron said with a grin.   
“Why aorta…” He said.  
“You otter what?”   
“I utter see how long you can milk this.” Gabriel gave the young man a glare. What in the hell was going on? He was pretty sure that the younger man was supposed to leave soon.   
“I’m milking it until it’s rotten.”   
Gabriel frowned.  
“If you intended to start a pun war at least come with a proper arsenal, Adrien are you ready?” He said looking to the boy who was beaming at him? Why was he beaming? What was he so happy about?  
“I’m ready, dad! But could we wait for Maria? She had some ideas I wanted you to hear.” Adrien said with a smiled.   
“I suppose we can wait a bit more, she said she’d be back quickly.” Gabriel said moving to cover Adrien from the strangely amused Mr. Ron.  
“Ah, I heard you had a kid.” Mr. Ron said. “Maria mentions both you a lot in her emails with a few choice words.”  
“She emails you often then?” Gabriel asked.  
“Oh yeah. Normally she Skype’s us all when she isn’t too busy. But I get email updates because I am her like second favorite person.” He replied.  
“And who’s her first?” Adrien asked.  
“Grandma is. I leave for fifteen minutes and I come back to hear you talking shit, Aaron?” Maria said appearing before them with a frown on her face.  
“Haha, can’t a big brother… Maria, stop glaring at me… seriously… GOD DAMMIT I DON’T WANNA BE CURSED AGAIN!” Aaron Balboa cried.   
Gabriel suddenly felt slightly relieved. This strange and annoying man was her brother. He was however slight terrified of the glare on Maria’s face. He was pretty sure it wasn’t aimed at him but it was not pleasant to see.  
“Take your croissants and go already. You’ll be back at noon tomorrow.” She said in a very… angry voice? She was angry?   
“I am gone. I will see you after my date!” He squeaked taking one of the bags from her hand and sprinting off.  
“Your brother is quite the character.” Gabriel commented.  
“He’s a stupid flirt.” She muttered with a pout.  
“And this bother’s you?” He asked.  
“No. I just dislike his lack of professionalism.” She replied.  
“Miss Balboa, you were complaining about me and Adrien’s heights earlier.” He reminded her.  
She gave him a frown and said, “We’re not having this conversation, boss.”   
“I thought I was in charge.” He stated.  
****   
Adrien watched with amusement as his father and Maria fell back to their routine. He had been cautious about Aaron Balboa until he realized that he was Maria’s brother and doing his match making job. He decided that her brother was useless to his master plan.   
“Hey if you two are done. The photo-shoot?” Adrien said with a smirk.  
“I’m still going to strangle him!” She huffed.  
“You’ll need a stool to reach.” He heard his father say.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hahaha if you're gonna pun off with an Agreste be prepared to lose.
> 
> Also Maria is pissed because Aaron only uses puns when flirting ;D
> 
> Please leave a review! that is what keeps me going!


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> OKAY SO QUICK WARNING: there is character death and a bit of blood in this chapter.

Two weeks had passed. He wasn’t ever aware of time until the clock stroke midnight. He frowned. June 5th. It was exactly four years since his wife died and twenty days before Adrien’s 16th birthday. He looked to the clock. He felt like it was laughing at him reminding him of that moment. ..

*****   
“Dad, come on! Would you lighten up?” Adrien said with a giggle.  
“Really, Gabriel,” Clarisse Agreste said with a laugh. “Stop being a sore loser! Adrien has better puns!”  
“I will be a sore loser! You gave him a handicap of coming out of your womb!” Gabriel grumbled looking at the rode.  
Clarisse giggled and rolled her emerald green eyes. She stared at him lovingly. “Really Gabriel. You’re such a baby.” She said.  
“You married me so not my problem.” He mumbled.  
“Are we going to be there soon? Me and the actual baby want to sleep.” Clarisse said with a smile. “Gabriel.”   
“Hmmm.” He replied.  
“Are we there yet?” She asked.  
“No I am afraid it’ll be another hour or so.” He replied with a sigh.  
“Ugh we should’ve taken the train. This is too much.” She said with a frown looking at him angrily.   
“Well excuse me for wanting to drive my family.” He said with a frown. Really, the first vacation he has in months and she’s mad? He decided not to argue. Clarisse had been very cold as of late. He hadn’t understood why the sudden change. She had been happy she claimed but her actions and attitude said otherwise.   
“You’re excused.” She said with a sigh.  
He said nothing and looked to Adrien who seemed distracted with his book. There was no need to worry him. His eyes drifted back to the road. He had arrived home insisted they leave so they could at least have a few extra hours of vacation time. Clarisse had been very strange as of late and the last thing on his mind was to worry his son.   
He stared at the near empty high way. He was glad that the traffic let up for the night. They had an hour until they reach Lyon. His eyes narrowed when he noticed a glare from the street. His breath hitched as he began to step on the break.   
It was a wild boar. There shouldn’t have been one in that area. It looked at them as he tried to brake. What was going on? The brake pedal went down but nothing happened.  
“Gabriel…” Clarisse asked quietly. “Why aren’t we stopping?”   
“The brake isn’t working!” He yelled panicking. He kept stomping on the break but nothing was working.  
“Dad? Mom?” Adrien asked.  
“Gabriel, pull over!” Clarisse yelled at him.  
“I can’t pull over! The brake isn’t working!” He stomping.  
“I’m scared.” Adrien cried from behind them.   
“Gabriel!” Clarisse yelled grabbing the wheel and roughly twisting to the right.   
From there that moment is a blur. He could only see black with small flashes of light every once in a while. Then it had all stopped. His eyes were wide with terror.  
He can hear Adrien’s breathing. It was too heavy. He desperately tried to pry off his seatbelt. When he got it off he looked to his side and his breathing stopped. Clarisse sat there empty eyed, blood trailing down the side of her face.   
Her eyes were accusatory in every sense of the word. Telling him that all of this was his fault. It probably was. He should’ve checked the breaks. They had been working fine though… but he had probably not checked them well enough.   
He looked back to Adrien. His eyes were wide with terror. His breathing was shallow. Gabriel struggled to move toward his son. How he had managed to get them out, he didn’t remember.   
After that all he could remember were those green eyes. Accusing him. Of what? He would never know. But he knew he did something. And those green eyes never stopped accusing him. They were always there when he looked at Adrien.  
******   
How he had managed to ignore his own son for as long as he did always surprised him and disgusted him. He was supposed to be the parent. The emotional rock. But he wasn’t. He shut down and left the boy to fend on his own.   
Then it happened. The sneaking out. He never mentioned anything because he always came back. He figured as long as he came back it was fine. The way they lived was fine. Until January… that was when all hell broke loose.  
The scarf had been amazing in detail.   
Then the question came.  
“Where did you get this?”  
That was when the boy looked at him. His eyes were wide, accusatory ,and broken at the same time. The boy looked about ready to cry but he said nothing instead. He shrugged and walked off without as much as a word.   
Then that night. As he listened to the tapping on the roof, he waited. And waited.   
The morning had been hell. But he frantically searched until he found his son sitting next to a dumpster sobbing his eyes out.  
It was the first time in since the death of his wife that he hugged him. He hugged him close thanking the lord that he hadn’t lost the boy to embrace of death. Thanking him that the boy hugged back.   
Now they were trying to be father and son again and he would be the father the boy truly deserved.   
*****   
He looked at the time again. Three minutes into the new day. He wanted to laugh. In those three minutes he remembered all the hell that the day was a reminder of. He heard the tapping on the roofs. He had always wondered why Adrien snuck to the roof. The view there was nothing.   
He lay there for a bit more before hearing a knock on his door.  
“Dad?” he heard.  
“I’m up. Come in.” He said.  
Adrien walked in and flung himself next to him.   
“I can’t sleep.” He mumbled.   
“I noticed. I heard you sneaking out.” Gabriel said.   
“You did?” Adrien asked. His voice had gone up.   
“Yes. You always sneak out for three hours. This is the hour you normally come back. Why the roof though? It’s not that interesting.” He replied.  
“It calms me. But it couldn’t tonight.” The boy said.  
“It’s been four years.” Gabriel mumbled.  
“Can we visit her grave?” He asked with a sigh.  
“Of course. We can go together… Also, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about this for a while.” Gabriel said.  
“What?” He asked quietly.  
“I was thinking that you and I could start seeing a therapist… or I could… or something.” Gabriel said taking a deep breath.  
“We need a lot of therapy.” Adrien said. “And it would help us both out in the long run… because we suck trying to be parent and child. We have our moments but we don’t know how to be a family without mom.”  
“So then, we’ll do therapy together.” Gabriel said.  
“Yeah but I think we should go to sleep. It’s almost 1 am.” Adrien said.  
“It’s barely 12:10, son.” Gabriel said with a laugh. “But we should sleep.”   
“Yeah… good night dad.” Adrien said with his own laugh.   
“Good night son.” He replied.  
******   
It had been three days since that strange conversation Adrien had with his father. He was surprised the man made good with the therapy thing. The two of them stared at the building before looking at each other.   
Adrien gave his father a smile which the man awkwardly returned. They went in and were kindly greeted by the receptionist. They were both lead into the office and sat awkwardly while waiting for the woman who would have to deal with their issues.  
The therapist was not what Adrien was expecting. She was a small woman with many wrinkles, gray hair with soft brown eyes, and a smile so kind it made the room feel physically sweeter.   
“Hello, boys. I’m Madame Bonheur. I will be you therapist. But please feel free to call me Etoile. Would both of you prefer Mr. Argeste?” She sounded like the type of woman who would bake you cookies if she heard you were even slightly upset.   
“You can call me Adrien.”  
“Gabriel is fine.”  
Etoile laughed and said, “Well boys, I’m sure you both know why I’m here. But why don’t we start with a bit of an Ice breaker? I’m Etoile; I’ve studied psychology and focused on family therapy since I was 18 years old. “   
Neither could speak. Adrien felt awkward and he knew his father probably felt even more awkward. Social interaction and discussing his feelings were not his strong suit even before the death of his mother.   
“Oh my,” She began with a soft laugh. “No need to be shy, boys. I’m here to help you. I’m not here to judge you.”   
“Um… I’m Adrien,” Adrien began nervously. “I’m gonna be 16 in a few days and I model?”   
“That’s good, do you like modeling?” Etoile asked.  
“Uh…” Adrien began looking at his father than and the floor. “No…”  
“I see. So what do you like?” She asked with a smile.  
“Physics?” He mumbled.  
“And Gabriel,” She said looking to his father. “What about you.”  
“Uh… I design clothes?” He said.   
Adrien almost wanted to laugh. His father was obviously not sure what he was doing.  
“Well it seems I have my work cut out for me, but enough about that. Why don’t we just chat? I find it’s easier for anyone in this situation. It takes the stress out.” She said. “Why don’t we start with interests? Adrien you said you liked physics. Why is that?”  
“Uhm…” He began. “I really like all the different theories and seeing how they can be applied in real life scenarios.”  
“That’s good and Gabriel you design, I’ve seen your stuff. Why don’t you tell us why you like to design?” She said smiling at him. “No need to be shy.”  
“I… well. I enjoy watching my creations come to life…” He said.  
“Anything else?” she asked. “I have all day and I don’t mind waiting. You two don’t have to feel required to talk.”   
“Eeer…”  
“Uhhh…”   
“Adrien, Gabriel, why don’t we do a quick little exercise to get you both talking. I’ll give you each a pen and a paper you’ll write down your interests and then discuss them with me and each other, how does that sound?” she asked   
“That seems… doable.” Gabriel said.   
“Okay give me a minute.” She said getting up from her seat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that was depressing but it was necessary for the story... so is these two dorks going to therapy. next chapter will be more fun I promise :D
> 
> Also check out the side story compilation: Beloved on My Mind and feel free to request a story. If I don't put it in that it's probably because I'm gonna put it in the main story :D
> 
> Leave your thoughts please :D


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> wooohooo! 11 chapters guys! Also huge thanks to nataliedelatorre on tumblr who drew a small comic of chapter three! :D Check for ml an awkward situation on tumblr if you guys wanna see any updates I post there :D

Maria wanted to punch something. Anything. It had been two days since her family arrived and while most were staying at a hotel—her uncles and aunts insisted that they didn’t want to burden her—one aunt in particular had left a sour flavor seeing as she had not been invited.   
She took a deep breath as she fixed her hair. She was in no mood to put it up so she worked on making it a fish tail braid. She looked over her outfit for the day. Normally—well since she had moved to France—she would wear tighter clothes. She had developed a rather expensive taste thanks to her rather nice paycheck (working for a world renowned asshole had its perks). But she could not for as long as Doña Marcia was there.  
She hated the woman with a passion but she had no choice but to put up with her as it was her grandfather who had been the reluctant soul to bring her. She understood her grandfather was duty bound to his sister. It had been her great-grandmother’s dying wish that all her children would help and protect each other. And she knew that once the dead made their wishes it had to be honored.   
She looked over herself. She wore a simple white peasant blouse with an empire waistline that had a sheer overlay that gave it a modest look and some black skinny jeans that didn’t seem too tight and a pair of black wedges. Her hair was done neatly and her make-up was light. She sighed disliking that she had to change her appearance. She liked dressing up a bit more provocatively. It made her feel sexy when she looked in the mirror.   
But of course, Doña Marcia was there and she would go on and on about how she was basically asking for something bad to happen to her with what she was wearing. She had no qualms of telling that to Adalina who wore a less than modest dress on the night she had been proposed too.   
She loathed the woman despite the fact that she was her aunt. She had no love her and no one blamed her. The woman made herself unlovable.   
Maria frowned as she exited her room to find the woman sitting on her couch with a cup of coffee. She internally screamed and prayed that the woman wouldn’t stain her carpet or her furniture.   
“Buenos Dias.” She said walking into the kitchen.  
“Mija.” The old woman called.   
“Si?” She responded.  
“Do you have a rag; I dropped a bit of coffee.” She asked.  
Maria had to do everything to keep herself from telling off the old woman.   
“Aaron has them. I have to go. Have a good day.” She replied.   
She had thrown away any ideas of vacation the moment that they had told her that the woman had insisted on coming. Then she pretty much gave a bull shit excuse about having a ton of projects—which was a complete lie; they had only three projects and they had months to work on it—so it would be impossible to get a vacation at all.   
She quickly grabbed her things before the woman could start going off about how she should be looking for a nice Mexican man to settle down with and all the nice boys at her church that would get her out of the stage where she wanted equals rights and what not.   
*****   
Maria sighed in relief as she got to work. She was surprised to her boss arriving at the same time. She blinked once and then again.   
Oh fuck.   
Of all days.  
Let it be known that Gabriel Agreste was man who looked very good. Especially in a black three piece suit with a burgundy shirt that was not fully buttoned.   
She kept her face straight trying to ignore the fact that man looked particularly good that day. She had always been a sucker for an older man in a suit and he was no exception. She took a deep breath and made her way inside.  
“Miss Balboa, you’re shift isn’t for another hour.” He said walking up next to her. “I do hope you don’t plan to run me out of business with your overtime.”  
“I don’t plan on it.” She replied. “I just felt like being here early.”  
“Normally, I wouldn’t complain, but we don’t have much going on at the moment,” He noted. “Only two or three projects in their final stage.”   
“I am aware of that, boss.” She said with a frown. “I’m gonna go set up my stuff.”  
“Is your brother giving you trouble again?” He teased.  
“No, but I could tell him you’re interested.” She said with a smirk.  
“A pity he has a boyfriend.” He replied with a smug look.  
“You know about Theo?” She whined.  
“He mentioned him once while explaining to me the new security system.” Gabriel said. “So he’s not much of a person to threaten me.”  
“I could always use Adrien.” She mumbled.  
“Knowing him, he might just do it for the fun of it.” He replied with a sigh.   
“Have you two been having problems again?” She asked.  
“No but lately he’s been strange… did you know he purrs?” Gabriel said with a confused look on his face. “Do teenage boys normal purr?”  
“Uh… not really? I mean Aaron did and still does but I always thought that was a him thing.” She said tilting her heard to the side. “How did you find out he purrs?”  
“Long story.” He said with a shrug.  
“Technically, I don’t start until an hour from now. So I’ve got time and I’m extremely curious as to why he’s purring?” She said. “I’ll buy coffee.”  
“And that is supposed to convince me?” He asked.  
“Yes.” She said with a grin. “Plus, that means you don’t have to pay me this hour.”   
“That is a much better offer but I do have to look over a few documents for the day and work on actual lines.” He said showing her a large manila file holder.  
“C’mon boss! I wanna know.” She whined. “I’ll work three hours without clocking in! Tell me.”  
“I wasn’t aware that I hired a five year old.” He said with a smirk as he opened the door. “After you Miss Balboa.”  
She walked in with a huff of her cheeks.   
“You suck!” She announced walking away.  
*****  
Gabriel smirked as she walked away. He wondered how she managed to go from an overconfident designer to a child in a matter of seconds. He walked into his office with the smirk on his face.  
“Sir would you like a coffee?” Nathalie asked as she entered.  
“Tell Miss Balboa to get it; she’s technically not on duty.” He said letting his smirk become a full blown grin.   
“Yes, sir.” She replied leaving the room.   
He sat down and began looking over the files. There were a few from the Andalusia and Spain branches that sent complaints about the custom wedding dress that they had made a while back. Most of them were that they were being hounded for a bridal line.  
He wouldn’t mind doing a bridal line but he had no inspiration for such a thing. What would be nice for it? White of course would be lovely but what would be a good theme? He looked to his computer and opened Google. Perhaps he could find a source of inspiration.   
********   
Maria was surprised when Nathalie came up to her. The woman gave a nod of greeting which Maria returned.  
“Miss Balboa, Mr. Agreste has requested for you to go get him his coffee.” Nathalie said with a straight face. “He expects it ASAP.”   
“Got it!” She said grabbing her back. “He likes it black right?”  
“He does.” She replied with a nod.  
Maria nodded and quickly went off to get the coffee.  
*****   
Gabriel sighed as he searched online. Absolutely nothing would give him inspiration. He looked over his other files to see if there was anything more they could focus on besides a line he was not even sure he was going to do. There were the usual orders for the retail lines and a mention of inquiries about restocking a line that was out of commission.   
“Boss?” He heard at his door.  
“Yes Miss Balboa?” He said looking up from his files.  
She gave a grin and said, “I got your coffee.”  
“Put it on the desk and then you may go.” He said.  
“How did you find out Adrien purrs?” She asked.  
“Miss Balboa, give me my coffee.” He said with a frown.  
“You’re not getting it until you tell me.” She said with a grin.  
“I wasn’t aware you were so childish,” He said twisting his lip to the side. “Why do you wish to know anyways?”  
“I am quite childish when I want to be,” She said. “And I have a soft spot for the boy, so I take interest when the father actually has information on his son.”   
“Give me my coffee and take a seat.” He said with a sigh.   
“Yay!” She said with small hop. Gabriel had to roll his eyes. Really this young woman was so strange. She could go through various emotions in a span of a minute and somehow still manage to outsmart him every time.   
She placed the coffee in front of him and sat down at the nearest chair. She had an expectant look on her face which covered the smug attitude that was radiating off her.   
He sighed and took a sip.  
“Well?” She asked.  
“Right well, after a therapy session I patted his head and it came out.” He replied.  
“You know what; Aaron does the same thing too,” She said. “I wonder why that is.”  
“Indeed. Go sketch or something.” He said shooing her off.  
“Okie dokie.” She said getting up and walking away.  
*******   
“Hey Adrien?” Adrien’s head popped up when he heard Marinette’s voice.  
“Oh hey?” He said with a lazy smile.   
She smiled at him and he felt himself blush. Not good. Mission abort.   
“I have some cookies from the house and was wondering if you wanted them,” She said holding out a small bag. “You didn’t do your hair today.”  
“Thanks,” He exclaimed taking the bag gently from her hands. “Oh yeah… both me and my dad woke up late and I didn’t have time to do that. The photo-shoot yesterday took longer than expected.”  
“Oh were Maria and your dad disagreeing again?” she asked tilting her head to the side.   
“Actually they were on the same page for once,” He said with a laugh. “It was the photographer who was giving them hell. He thought that their ideas where stupid. It was hilarious to see them combine forces.”   
“Honestly with how pissy they both can get I can see it.” She said with a giggle. “Well I gotta go! Class is gonna start.”  
“Yeah.” He said with a smile. He looked at the bag of cookies and let his smile grow bigger. He loved the Dupain-Cheng’s cookies with a passion. The passion had developed when he had first tried them when he and Marinette had been practicing for the video game tournament a while back.   
He tightened the fastening on them and shoved them into his bag hoping that Plagg really did only like cheese.   
******   
After the short day—Adrien didn’t know why it felt that way—Adrien and his father found themselves in front of Etoile’s office for their weekly session. Even after going twice neither could help but feel awkward.   
She welcomed them in with an offer of tea which the two had agreed too.  
“So boys, how have you been?” She asked taking a seat.  
“Uh… fine?”  
“Good I guess?”   
Really they didn’t know what else to say.   
“So for today’s session I wanted to know if you talk about relationships or anything of the sort.”   
His dad choked and he froze.  
“Well….”  
“Uh…”   
*****   
Etoile smiled as she watched the two freeze in terror. The two of them were more alike than they realized. While the boy had similar coloring to his mother—she recalled the woman from the pictures in the article detailing the crash they had experienced—he was his father’s son. He was slightly more sociable but there were small quirks that made it too easy to tell who had the stronger blood.   
“I see.” She said with a smile. “You two should.”  
“Right now?” they both squeaked.   
“Yes.” She said with a nod. “Adrien why don’t you tell us about any girls you’ve been interested lately.”  
“Yes please tell us about Miss Marinette.” She heard Gabriel tease.   
She watched the two carefully. Gabriel looked smug but then so did Adrien. This would be quite amusing.  
“Well if I have to talk about Marinette, why don’t we bring up Maria, Dad?”  
Etoile decided to remain silent. She knew their problem. They didn’t know how to start conversation. So now she was the one to force them to talk.   
“What does Maria have to do with anything?”  
“What no Miss Balboa, dad?”  
“Miss Balboa has nothing to with anything but you can’t pretend Miss Marinette doesn’t catch your eye.”  
“And you can’t pretend you haven’t checked her out a few times, Dad!”  
“Well I will admit she is a pretty woman.”   
“Dad you’re surrounded by pretty woman but she’s the only one I’ve seen you ever ogle and you can’t pretend you don’t like her! You let her get away with so many things that it’s not even funny!”  
“At least I keep my hands to myself, son. I’ve never seen you touch a person so much. You weren’t even that huggy feely with me.”  
“Admit you like Maria.”  
“Admit you like Marinette!”   
“So!” Etoile decided to cut in. “Why don’t we talk about Marinette and Maria. They both seem very prominent in your life.”  
“Maria is hardly someone to focus on.” Gabriel said with a scoff.  
“How did you two meet?” Etoile asked.   
“She’s an employee but if you must know, technically we met about 2 years ago at a fashion competition held by vogue.” He replied.  
“So that’s where you found her.” Adrien mumbled.   
Etoile smiled and asked, “And what did you think of her then compared to now?”  
“I thought Miss Balboa was a talented designer who’s skill was severely underestimated due to her looks at the time and now I think she’ lucky I value her skill enough to put up with her big mouth.” He replied with a shrug.  
“I see. But what do you feel about her.” She said.  
“I just explained that.” He grumbled.  
“You told me what you thought of her but what do you feel about her.” She said emphasizing the last part.   
“I don’t have any feelings for her!” He exclaimed.   
“Are you sure? Gabriel, I can’t tell anyone what you say here. Personally, I think dating would do you good.” She said.  
“Eh…” He said looking at Adrien who seemed to be urging to talk.  
“I don’t dislike her presence.” He admitted reluctantly.   
“Dad c’mon!” Adrien said. “You can’t pretend that you don’t like having her in the room.”   
“I suppose not.” He said. “But other than that I have no feelings towards her.”  
*****   
Gabriel lay in his bed. He was not sure what was keeping him awake that night.   
Oh who was he kidding? He knew exactly what was. He didn’t like where this session had led. He didn’t believe that Maria had been brought and by Adrien.   
He didn’t ogle her. He did sometimes look her way to see what she wearing since every once in a while she would come in something of her own makings but that was it. It didn’t matter that her homemade clothes seemed to flatter her body more than the dresses she wore from time to time.   
No. He certainly had not thought she had the most passionate blue eyes when he had met despite the baggy sweater and the sweat pants.   
Her presence was certainly not missed at all. But it was much appreciated in the long run.   
He wanted to pretend that the tattoo had not sparked a curiosity in him.   
He knew he would be lying if he said she wasn’t pretty. He knew a pretty girl when he saw one. He wasn’t blind.  
But the problem was that she was pretty all the time.   
Especially when she was laughing.   
But she could be the definition of seduction itself without meaning too.   
He knew this especially after last week. She had worn a simple black dress that hugged her perfectly in all the right places. Her hair had been loose but neatly curled and her make-up had been dark. The red lipstick and the lip biting had not helped him on that day.   
What made it worse was that she had plans afterwards. He had been haunted by the idea of her seeing someone in that outfit.   
Adrien didn’t help. He often had something wonderful to say about the pain in the ass.   
But she could also be silently beautiful. That memory would still be imprinted his mind. That night when he had found her in a simple dress with her hair pulled back into a messy bun. She had a somber expression as she sewed gently. He could not help but smile at her for in that moment he could’ve sworn she was angelic in some way.   
But of course she could be wildly beautiful. He knew her temper to be a storm. If he was wrong—which he had been on occasion—she would fight him and that anger and passion would only work to her advantage as she told him off.   
He also knew her mind was beautiful. He had read her thesis that she had submitted for her hybrid major. He knew of very few people who worked to mix fashion and social justice and that he could appreciate.  
But he did not feel anything for her.   
Except maybe a healthy appreciation… that involved lusting after her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gabriel "I'm totally not into my Employee" Agreste, dear readers!
> 
> But anyways. Annoying Marcia is crucial to something developing between these two losers. Also due to discussion on tumblr what's a better name for this ship? Gabria or KinkSame?


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So this is mostly a filler chapter XD  
> Next chapter will be more important... and maybe develop something interesting ;D

Maria awoke the next morning with a big gasp. She began to shuffle around her room.  
“Where is it?” she hissed looking around for a present bag that had her gift for Adrien. It was his birthday and she wanted to make sure he got her gift. She quickly threw on her clothes for the day and ran out before her family could ask questions.  
She was on her way to the Agreste Mansion. She knew the two would be up at this time—Adrien had a strange habit of tell her the schedule for the Agreste family at the beginning of the week—so she would be able to deliver the gift to the boy just in time. He had begged her to come see him early morning anyways.  
She pushed the doorbell button and was surprised to see a screen pop up with Nathalie looking at her.  
“Good Morning Miss Balboa.” She said.  
“Hey Miss Sancouer,” She greeted with slightly nervous smile. “Um… is Adrien awake? I told him I would be visiting him at this hour yesterday.”  
“He’s in the dining room with Mr. Agreste.” Nathalie said as the gates opened.  
“Thank you.” She said with a nod.  
She walked into the mansion and looked at all the workers. Surprisingly they were fixing up the place which had her wondering. As far as she knew, Gabriel Agreste did not like parties and only showed up to most social events an hour or so. Maybe Adrien was having something?  
*****  
Adrien was surprised to see Maria walk into the dining room with a gift bag in tow. She had told him she would try to visit him in the morning. He looked to his dad who seemed less than happy to see her.  
“Am I interrupting breakfast?” She asked with a nervous chuckle.  
“No!” Adrien said with a hop.  
“I suppose not.” His father said with a bored look.  
Maria gave a nervous smile before holding out a gift bag.  
“I just came by to drop off Adrien’s birthday present,” She said. “I have to go run some errands quickly.”  
Adrien smiled and got up taking the gift from her. He wanted to peek inside but decided against it.  
“Well if they’re quick, join us for breakfast!” Adrien insisted. He hoped that somehow the fact that it was his birthday would get her to stay. He wanted to have her and his dad in the same room. The therapy was helping for them to connect better but it would be nice to have a chatter box force them into conversation.  
“I can’t,” She said with a rueful smile. “I have to go buy a shit ton of coffee and then go pay some bills before I’m off wasting your father’s time.”  
“Aaaw…” Adrien said looking at the gift. “Thank you.”  
“Tell you what, though,” She said with a smile. “I’ll give you the gift of new friends. My younger brothers are in need of a tour and who better than you! Arturo understands French and speaks it really well. They’ll love you.”  
Adrien smiled widely. She wanted him to meet her family. Maybe he could get her brothers in on his plan! Aaron was useless but amusing in his opinion—and maybe he was a bit sore that he had managed to make things happen a bit faster than him.  
“Really?” He asked trying to contain his excitement.  
“Yeah,” She said. “If you don’t like the gift, blame Aaron. He said you would love it and I trusted his judgment against my better reasoning.”  
“Thanks Maria!” He said.  
“Well I’m off,” She said with a smile. “You guys later!”  
“Bye!” He said. “Dad.”  
“I will see you later, Miss Balboa, please don’t be too early.” Gabriel said looking through his newspaper  
“I will do everything possible to waste enough time so that I won’t cost you more overtime boss.” She said with a laugh before taking her leave.  
******  
Gabriel looked to the disappointed boy and then to Miss Balboa who strutted away. He watched as his son sat down. He was a bit worried.  
“Do you like Miss Balboa?” He asked when he heard the doors shut.  
“Yeah, she’s awesome.” He said with a grin.  
“I mean like... You know…?” Gabriel really couldn't help but worry. Adrien was a still a child and she was a woman.  
“Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeew!” Adrien cried upon the realization of his father’s insinuations. “Gross!!! She’s like a mom to me!”  
“I was just worried for a minute because you seemed so disappointed to see her leave.” Gabriel said.  
“Well yeah, I would have liked to have breakfast with you and her…” He said looking down. “It would’ve felt like having breakfast with a full family.”  
“Oh…” Gabriel said looking at his newspaper.  
“I agree with Etoile that you need to start dating,” Adrien said looking away from the table. “You seem so tense so it might help you in the long run.”  
“Adrien…” Gabriel began. “I don’t think I should start dating until perhaps we’re in a better stage with family as it is.”  
“I think we’re at a good stage.” Adrien said.  
“I don’t.” Gabriel replied. “Look, son, we’ll discuss that later. For now, tell me what you want for your birthday.”  
“I dunno, a pet cat?” Adrien said with a shrug.  
Gabriel frowned. He shouldn’t have brushed off Adrien like that.  
“I have a serious question.” He said.  
“What?” he asked quietly.  
“Why are you so hell bent on setting me up with Miss Balboa?” He asked.  
Adrien looked at him and then at the floor.  
“She makes you feel stuff.” He explained  
“I beg your pardon?” Gabriel said. He was pretty sure he knew what he felt and when he felt it so this was not exactly the response he had in mind. He figured something that she reminded him of his late mother in some ways.  
“She makes you talk and lose that composure you have. She makes you seem more human and approachable,” Adrien elaborated. “I feel like she gets a side out of you that no one expected you to have. I like that side of you and I thought that if Maria could bring it out then maybe she’s what we need in this house.”  
“I see…” He said. Miss Balboa did have bad habit of making him lose his cool. She often did not mean to start to it but she had a way of crawling under his skin and lately into his sleep. He would admit that she was much appreciated but other than that, she was not necessary in his life.  
“I think you should date, because you’re really obvious.” Adrien said.  
“What am I obvious about?” Gabriel asked  
“That you like her. You can pretend you don’t but it’s there.” He said with a firm look. “And it would be nice to have her in the family.”  
“Adrien… let’s say that I do like Miss Balboa, wouldn’t you be worried that I wouldn’t have time for you?” Gabriel asked.  
“As if being single stopped you from ignoring me before.” Adrien scoffed.  
Gabriel winced. He should’ve seen that coming a mile away. He sighed in defeat. The boy wanted a mother and honestly he was not sure if he was at a point where he should be dating. Etoile made it seem like a good option. Adrien was practically throwing him at her… but he wasn’t sure if it was the right idea.  
His relationship with his son as it was now was not one he wanted. If anything dating could possibly make it worse.  
“I know,” Gabriel said. “That is why I would rather focus being a parent before I do any life changing actions.”  
“Dad…” Adrien said looking up at him slightly teary eyed. “Are you actually saying you’re putting me first for once?”  
“Of course…” He said.  
Adrien smiled and dashed out of his seat. Gabriel stiffened as the boy embraced him. He was still not sure how the hell hugging worked. He was pretty sure he had never been hugged until he and Clarisse had formally declared their intention to court each other. Other than that hugs were a foreign thing to him.  
“Uuuh… son, is the hugging necessary?” He asked.  
“Yes!” Adrien exclaimed.  
********  
Adrien smiled as he got to school. He felt like it was his best birthday ever! His father had pretty much told him that he was a priority! He didn’t know how happy he had made him. It felt like they were finally getting to place that could be okay! That still didn’t mean he didn’t want Maria and his dad to get together. They were cute and he would be damned if they missed out on each other.  
“Hey Adrien!”  
Whatever coherent thought Adrien had completely stopped. Marinette was standing in front of him with her hair loosely curled and simple baby blue sundress holding a small bag.  
“Uh… hi?” He managed.  
She smiled at him shyly. He hadn’t thought he could blush that hard. He knew Marinette was pretty and would admit that if she asked him out he would say yes without much thought but that was too much. She was pretty much stunning in his opinion.  
“Is everything okay?” She asked tilting her heard to the side.  
“Yeah…” He said. “You look beautiful.”  
He was surprised when he saw Marinette blush. She looked down at the floor and he turned even redder. Oh shit. How the heck had things gotten this weird. He was pretty sure he liked ladybug but Marinette was also pretty cool. She was a video game buff and that made him want to hang out with her more outside of class and the few outings they had been on made them grow closer.  
“Thank you…” She said quietly holding out the small bag. “Happy birthday!”  
He stared at the small bag before taking it gently.  
“Thank you… We should go inside!”  
“Right!”  
*******  
Maria sat at her station staring at her sketches. She wondered if she should just ask for a vacation and suffer through her aunt being there. She really didn’t want to hear anymore of her sanctimonious preaching especially since Aaron had kindly let it slip that she was crushing on her boss.  
Yes she admitted that she was crushing on him. She liked him and it was making shit worse. Of course this had sparked a loud yelling fest between her mother and aunt. Her father’s only comment was that he hopes he died before his future son-in-law.  
She groaned and laid her head on the table. How had things gotten so out of hand? She sighed and was grateful that Adalina had not mentioned a single thing. The younger of the twins had always been much quiet. That was why she was considered the more reasonable twin.  
“Miss Balboa, could you call Miss Laura? I would like to have a word with the two of you.” Mr. Agreste said walking towards her.  
“Right on it boss!” She said. “Oh by the way, did Adrien like the gift?”  
“He didn’t have a chance to open it.” He said.  
Maria sighed and said, “Okie dokie. I’m gonna go get Eponine.”  
She quickly made her way to Eponine who was drinking her coffee ever so happily. She shook her head and walked up to her.  
“Hey, girly, the slave driver demands our presence.” She said.  
“I’ve only been on duty for ten minutes.” Eponine whined.  
“I know! But, work is work!” She said with a laugh.  
*******

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What did Adrien get for his birthday?  
> Will his plan succeed?  
> Why is Marinette so Pretty?  
> What does Gabriel plan on doing?  
> Check my tumblr for spoilers guys.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another filler but an important one!! AKA these two idiots are literally overthinking everthing

“Miss Laura, Miss Balboa; Ladies, take a seat.” Gabriel said motioning for them to sit down.   
He watched as the two young women sat down in front of him. They both seemed rather uninterested which meant only one thing. They were not doing enough work. But of course, it could be that it had been thirty minutes into the work day.   
“You needed to see us?” Miss Laura asked.  
“Yes, I did,” He began. “I received a few comments from our branches in Barcelona, Andorra, Los Angeles, Istanbul, and a few other wings about the recent custom wedding dresses. I have taken into consideration a possibility of making a bridal line.”  
“And what will be our position in this?” Miss Balboa asked.  
“As you can see,” He said. “I am not sure how to go about this. Both of you have the best construction based styles for sewing and designing and I am sure that with you two working on this with me it will be a success.”   
“You’re asking us to work with you personally on this?” Miss Laura asked looking a bit shocked. “You normally work alone on projects that are risky.”   
“I know.” He said. He preferred not to risk employees on such endeavors especially in preliminary designs. “But I have faith in both of your abilities. I know that Miss Balboa has a lot of information on various aspects of bridal design, and from what I know, some brides like wearing suits, which is where you come in, Miss Laura.”  
“Really?” Both of the young women said with excitement.   
“Yes.” He said. “I want three hundred sketches between the two of you on my desk by lunch.”  
“Okie dokie!” Miss Balboa said. “Do you want any particular theme or can we go crazy?”  
“Go crazy and then from there we’ll see what we can work with.” He said leaning back.   
“We’ll be right on it!” Miss Laura said with an excited nod.   
“You are dismissed.” He said waving them off.   
*******   
Maria practically bounced out the workroom. She was so excited. She couldn’t believe that she could help start the Agreste bridal line. Her mind went through various types of eras she could start looking for.   
“Maria, this is so awesome!” Eponine cried.  
“I know! Let’s start researching and sketching.” Maria said with a giddy nod.   
The two girls quickly made their way to their desk.   
Maria smiled as she opened her laptop. She had always wanted to get married when she was younger and her grandmother would tell her that a wedding was cute and all but she could be rich and have harem which would be much better.   
Of course the old woman was more than on board with her choice of affections at the moment. But that was only because of a horrendous video of her when she had been three years old. Her grandmother had videotaped her announcing to the world that she would marry Gabriel Agreste at the tender age of three.   
She shook her head and let out a soft snort. She really couldn’t believe how the world worked sometimes. She leaned forward for a bit and rested her chin on her hand in thought. While the idea of Gabriel Agreste excited her there were too many reasons to just get over it.   
For starters, his relationship with his son was not the best in the world. She knew they had only really been speaking since January and they had started going to therapy together, but it didn’t feel like it was right. The second thing was also son related. She didn’t want the boy to think that she was a priority over him or that she was kind to him to get his father’s attention. She adored the boy and could even say she loved as she would her own child if she had any. And of course, the most important reason, he was her employer.  
Everything about it screamed disaster; It didn’t help when the man had his moments. No, it did not help at all when he smiled lovingly at his son, or when he became so immersed in his work that one would call it magical, or that he sometimes smiled lazily at her when he had gotten the best of her. It did not help at all.  
She hardly knew him! That was another reason! She didn’t know much about the man except that he was a designer; he hated neon colors despite their use in his lines, he liked his coffee black, he hated Tuesdays, his son was the only person he could stand for longer than an hour, he had one brother and one sister he did not speak with, and that he found the Eiffel tower to be incredibly unimpressive. Other than that she knew jack shit about him.   
“If you keep glaring at the laptop it’s gonna fry.” Maria snapped up and saw Eponine looking at her with a smile.  
“Oh sorry. I got lost in thought,” She said with a chuckle. “Did you need something, girly?”   
“I was gonna ask if you wanted to research and sketch together?” the girl said.   
Maria nodded and said, “That’s fine. I was just deep in thought for a minute. So what do you want to look at?”  
“Anything really. I do kind of want to look at baroque fashion to see if I can get some ideas for some lapel designs.” Eponine said.   
“That’s cool. I kind of want to look at revolutionary French fashion for this. The mervelliuse fashion was beautiful.” Maria  
“Pfffft!” Eponine managed. “Too bad the male counterpart is a nightmare to look at unless it’s from English.”   
“The one time the French actually were humiliated by English in fashion.” Maria said. “Incroyables were anything but that.”   
The two began to burst out in giggles.   
************   
Gabriel sat in his study for a while looking at the blank piece of paper. He had probably made like 70 sketches at this point and he was already losing inspiration. His mind wandered as he tapped his pencil on his paper.  
His mind slowly drifted to the thought of a certain blue eyed woman. She was a strange thought that often occurred to him. While he stated he did not see her romantically, it did not mean he had not thought of it. She was by all means a desirable woman but not for him.   
There were many reasons when it came to her which made it obvious that she was perfectly off limits. For starters she was employee. The backlash from that alone would be enough to make it hard. People would talk and she was not prepared for how harsh the media could be. There was also the matter of what she felt. As far as he knew, she could possibly just be interested in his prospects.   
He wanted to laugh at that possibility. She had made it clear several times that she didn’t care who he was or what power he possessed. She had once told him to his face that there was not enough money to his name to make her even flinch at his threat of firing her—she had offered Adrien a sweet which had caused him to tell her off because of his diet; that had resulted in perhaps their biggest yelling match they had to date.   
Adrien was no longer reason. The boy encouraged the idea but he had no idea why. She was a pretty woman and Adrien believed her well to compliment him but what did he know about her? All he knew was that she liked sweet things; she loved to read all types of literature, she was a brilliant advocate for many causes, she loved royal blue, and that she had a tattoo.   
Other than he knew very little of her. He didn’t know of her thoughts or if she had in her the desire to be a mother. There was too much riding on it. He didn’t like her. At least he was sure he didn’t like her; he was as sure about that as he was that that loch ness monster existed.   
He leaned forward and rested his forehead on his fist. He knew enough about her to form a desire for her; a desire that did only stop at a physical need but an emotional one as well. He was horrified at the emotions. He had loved Clarisse once upon time. Now four years later his wife was dead and suddenly his heart decided to grow a pair and get emotions again? How did that even work?  
He tried to focus more on his drawing but nothing would come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> woooohoooo! So anyways! I will try and get the story to progress. Next chapter will be a bit more Adrien centric 
> 
> Please review guys :D


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gosh this was so long to type

The day had been dull and long in Adrien’s opinion but he was excited. His dad was letting him have a small sleep over with Nino, Alya, and Marinette. How he had managed to convince the old man was far beyond him but he wasn’t complaining.

He walked into the Agreste Fashion house expecting his father to be at his desk doing paper work looking stiff and formal as per usual. Instead, his father was sitting on a stool, looking just about ready to drop dead, staring at a piece of paper with Eponine and Maria looking just as aggravated.

“You guys don’t seem too hot.” He commented.

“We’re doomed!” Maria announced banging her head against the table.

“Miss Balboa you’re exaggerating.” His dad said with a sigh. “Perhaps we should do more research and choose an actual theme. This is just the primary stage.”

“Maybe we should go to some fabric stores too?” Eponine said. “That should probably help us.”

Adrien looked at them.

“What is going on?” He asked.

“We’re testing primary ideas for a bridal line and your dad didn’t think things through!” Maria said turning her head to face him.

“I did think things through!” His dad announced losing his cool.

“If you had really thought things through, we would not be ready to kill each other boss!” She growled.

“I had thought it through.” He huffed.

Adrien had to stifle his giggles. Really this birthday was the best one to happen to him since his mother had died.  

“Sure you did,” Maria mumbled. “Ugh….”

Adrien looked to Maria and realized she was glaring at her phone.

“Something wrong?” Adrien asked.

“Just family issues, child,” She said sitting up. “I’m gonna go make a phone call.”

“Hurry back!” Eponine said with a smile.

Adrien watched as she left curious as to what was bothering her with her family. He knew that she and her family got along well save for the lack of privacy.

*******

Maria sighed as she called her house.

“Maria thank god!” She heard her mother cry in her native tongue.

“What happened?” She asked.

“Your aunt broke your lock to your room!” Her mom said.

She sighed and looked to the floor.

“Put her on the phone.” She said quietly. God, why was that happening to her? She had tried to be civil towards the woman, let her do as she pleased, and never said a bad word to her.

“Mija, good, I was trying to tell your mother to get me a blanket and she tells me that the room was locked. Why are you locking your room? Is there something you don’t want us to see? You know, mija, it’s things like this that make me say you should come home and settle down with a boy I know. Alfonso from my church would be so good to you...”

Maria tuned out her aunt and leaned her heard on the table.

“Tia!” She snapped. “My room was locked because all my sewing stuff was in there and I didn’t want Luciana to get in there and hurt herself. I will call a locksmith to go there and fix it. I have to go back to work now.”

Maria began to shake in anger. What had she done to that woman to deserve all her spite and malice? She had offered her a place to stay, gave her a bed, treated her with respect and civility, and she been generally good to her. Yet, the woman still chose to act as if she had done something wrong and that she had to be chastised like a child.

She felt herself start to cry. Really why was this happening? She leaned against the wall to try and compose herself. She tried to hold back any loud sobs that dared escaper her lips. She covered her mouth to quiet herself down thankful that the design room was empty.

*******

Gabriel was surprised when Adrien announced his departure rather quickly but understood that the boy wanted to make sure everything for his slumber part was perfect. Honestly, why did the boy want a slumber party anyways? He was surprised he wasn’t getting concerned phone calls about a co-ed slumber party; but if those kids’ parents trusted them then he really couldn’t say it was a bad idea.

He looked to Miss Laura who was staring in the direction where Miss Balboa had gone.

“Is something wrong?” He asked.

“Maria doesn’t normally take this long to call home,” Miss Laura said frowning. “I think something’s wrong.”

“Perhaps it’s taking a bit longer than usual to call home.” Gabriel said with a shrug. He wasn’t worried—or least he didn’t want people to realize that he might be 0.099% worried—about the time Miss Balboa was taking.

“Maybe…” Miss Laura said looking back down at her work.

“Perhaps we should call it a day.” Gabriel said with a frown.

“Boss?” Miss Laura squeaked in surprised. “Are you sure?”

“At this point it would be easier to do research on our own and I have other engagements I need to tend to.” He said with a nod.

“Do you want me to go tell, Maria?” She asked looking back towards the direction Miss Balboa had gone.

“I’ll go. She and I need to have a talk about not blaming me for things that fail, anyways.” He said standing up. “Be sure to inform that others that may clock out if they wish.”

“Of course, have fun pretending you’re not flirting.” Miss Laura said getting up and grabbing her things.

“Miss Laura, I do believe you’re missing a few hours from last week…” He said with a frown.

“Sorry boss.” She said with a sheepish smile.

He frowned and walked towards the direction Miss Balboa had gone. With each step he became nervous. He didn’t know why—no wait he did—but the prospect of speaking to Miss Balboa alone became terrifying.

********** 

He came to the art room and noted the door was closed. No one was present in the hallways but he heard the faint sound of a female voice. He leaned against the door and listened. It was coming from in there.

He opened the door as slowly and as quietly as possible.

His breath hitched when he saw who was there.

Miss Balboa was leaning her back against the wall with one hand covering her mouth while tears flowed down her face like small cascades. She was shaking and completely unaware of his presence. He could hear her muffled attempts to calm herself down.

He could feel everything him screaming at him to do something about it. What could he do? He couldn’t even comfort his own son when they had lost Clarisse. He would most certainly make everything worse.

And yet, a tiny voice whispered, “ _Help her…_ ”

He took a deep breath and walked towards her. He could feel himself about to collapse but kept his composure. He was a grown man, not a love-struck teenage boy—despite his feelings for the younger woman—and he was going to act like it.

“Maria…” He called surprised by how soft his own voice had been.

********

Maria jumped when she heard her name being called. She looked to her side and saw her boss standing there. She quickly began to wipe her tears.

“B-boss!” She squeaked. “I’m so sorry!”

“Is everything alright, Miss Balboa?” He asked moving closer to her causing her to flinch a little. She was not sure why but the suddenness of them being alone frightened her…and excited her more than it should.

“Why do you ask?” She said wiping another tear.

“Miss Balboa… You were crying right now were you not?” He said shifting his gaze to the floor.

She bit her lower lip and looked up at him. He didn’t need to know about her family life. He had his own issues and besides that they weren’t close. She was technically nothing more than another person whose paycheck he had to sign.

She gave a weak smile and said, “Its fine Mr. Agreste. It’s nothing to ask about. I’ll be fine in a minute. I just need to…”

She began to sob again. There was too much stressing her out and this was the worst of it. She couldn’t help it.

“I’m sorry, I’ll calm down…” She began to say.

*******  
Gabriel didn’t know what do. In moments like this one would give physical comfort, if his memory was correct. Would she be fine with that? What if she thought it was harassment? Several dozen terrible scenarios appeared in his head.

They all disappeared when he looked at Miss Balboa. Her crying made him feel awkward but also sad and angry. While Miss Balboa was a pain in the ass, she was a generally pleasant person to be around and much more vibrant. To see her so dull and so muted, it just didn’t seem right. He wondered who would make her react so badly.

He took another deep breath and slowly moved closer to her crying form. She kept repeating that she was sorry but what for? She had done nothing wrong and it was obviously someone else’s fault. He put a hand on her should gently.

“Don’t read too much into this.” He said quietly pulling her into his arms.

********   
Maria gasped softly when she realized what was happening. He had his arms around her awkwardly. She wanted to laugh a bit at the situation but at the same time she was grateful. She desperately needed some sort of affection at the moment.

She wrapped her arms around his waist gripping his vest. She hoped he wouldn’t find that too forward of her. She needed something warm and he was so very warm.

******* 

Gabriel was surprised the by her actions but accepted them none the less. He noted that she was still shaking but at least it was not too bad. He could not really give words of comfort to her since he did not know what had caused her to lose her composure.

But he also wanted to keep like this for a bit. He felt childish and needy but it felt strange to get physical affection by someone willing of the opposite sex.

******** 

Maria began to feel herself calm as she inhaled his scent. He smelled like vanilla and coffee beans. It was strange but also entirely him. She closed her eyes as she laid her heard on his chest.

“Thank you,” She whispered softly. “I really needed a hug.”

“It’s not a problem.” She heard him mumble.

********

He was surprised that she had thanked him but at the same time relieved. He was not sure what his mind would have done if she had gotten mad.

He felt her slowly push away from him and looked at her. Her eyes were red and her cheeks were puffed. Some of her make-up had become ruined. Her simple black peplum shirt and black pants seemed fine. She looked awkward as she gave him a shy smile.

“Sorry for losing my shit.” She said quietly.

“It’s fine,” He said. “It was rather unnerving to see you lose your composer. Normally, it’s against my nature to pry, but I am curious as to why you were so upset?”

“Oh… It’s nothing!” She said with nervous chuckle and wave of her hand.

“Miss Balboa, you were having an emotional meltdown, that was not nothing,” He said with a frown. “What happened?”

“Ugh…” She said looking away.

*******

Maria wanted to cry again. She didn’t want to think about it anymore. She took a deep breath.

“Please,” She whispered. “I don’t wanna think about it anymore. I’m being childish right now. I just need to distract myself.”

To her surprise he stayed silent. He looked at the floor and then at her. She looked to the floor hoping that he would take mercy on her nerves. She felt emotionally drained and she didn’t want to focus on her family any more.

“I see.” He said after a minute.

She looked back up and was surprised to see him staring at the floor pensively.

“Well,” He said looking up at her. “Seeing, as you don’t want to focus on what’s upsetting you, you can suffer by helping me with something.”

“And w-what’s that?” She asked with a sniffle.

“I need help picking out a cat for Adrien.” He said with a frown.

“You’re getting Adrien a cat?” She asked with a slight bounce.

“Yes,” He said. “But I have no clue what type of cat he likes and I figure since you talk to her more than necessary you would know a bit more about what too choose.”

“I know exactly what he wants!” She announced forcing herself to perk up.

“Good, because I was just about to leave.” He said.

“Wait what about work?” She asked tilting her head.

“I gave everyone the rest of the day off.” He said. “Are you coming or not?”

“Yes sir!!” She said with a grin.

*********** 

Adrien sat idly next to Marinette as she looked over her sketch book. She had been the first one to arrive and greeted him happily. Since no one was there yet they had agreed to wait in the living room. He had been planning to watch Netflix while she drew but he had become curios.

Truthfully, he had developed a weird habit of watching her when she sketched. She was very different from his father when he sketched. His father was stone faced and completely focused but it was amazing to watch the way his hands move. Marinette was completely different. Her face was soft and her hand movement was slow. Her movements where magic and each stroke was a new spell.

He could understand why so many boys in their class fell for her. She was an amazing girl and even he couldn’t deny that. He looked at her and wondered why she rejected them each time. She could quite literally have any guy in class but instead she remained single.

“Marinette?” He called softly.

“Hmm?” She said looking up from her sketch book.

“I have a question.” He stated.

“Okay, what is it?” She asked tilting her head to the side. He almost screamed in frustration from how cute that was.

“Okay, this is gonna sound weird,” He began. “But how come you don’t have a boyfriend?”

“eh?” She asked turning red.

“Not to be weird or anything,” He said biting his lip. “It’s just that you’re really pretty and every guy in class has pretty much fallen in love with you at some point… and it’s just surprising that none of them caught your eye. I mean Nino is awesome and stuff. Nathanael and you are both pretty artistic… and I just think it’s weird.”

“Oh…” She said looking down. “That’s because… you see… I have… I really like this guy!”

“You like someone? Who’s the idiot who doesn’t realize how amazing you are?” Adrien said standing up.

“Haha, he doesn’t go to our school.” She said in a high pitch voice.

“Do you like him that much? You’re redder than Nathanael’s hair.” He said poking her forehead.

“I’m fine! Did you like my present?” She asked. He was surprised at how quickly she changed the subject but shrugged it off.

“I haven’t opened it yet. I should probably see what Maria got me too.” He said looking at the two gift bags on the nearby table.

“Ooh I wonder if she got you something good.” Marinette said losing her blush slowly.

He was sad to see it go. She was so cute when she was all red and flustered.

He grabbed the two bags and looked at her.

“You want me to open yours first?” He asked.

“Sure!” She said smiling at him.

He smiled and opened the bag. To his surprise it was several dark shirts with cat puns on them. He gave her a grin.

“They’re puuuur-fect.” He announced.

She covered her mouth to stifle a giggle and he felt proud. He liked being the source of Marinette’s smile.

He looked to Maria’s gift and opened it. It was a DVD box set of an anime called “Black Cat.” He blanched for a second. She had mentioned that her brother suggested it. He looked into it and saw a small card with a green paw.

It had written on it: “Claws out, Kitty; better make sure you know that the original Bad Ass has arrived.”

If that was from Aaron, then it meant two things.

One: Aaron knew he was Chat Noir.

Two: Ladybug was going to kick his ass so hard his dad would feel it.

*********

Maria looked around the high end pet store that they had arrived at. She knew Adrien had mentioned that he was a huge Chat Noir fan and kind of wanted a black kitten. She looked at all the kittens and was surprised that there were barely any.

She looked to her boss who seemed very preoccupied with a poodle pup. She covered her mouth to stifle the giggle that threatened to escape. The two seemed to be locked in a strange staring contest. It was rather cute in her opinion.

She continued to look around until she finally found a small black kitten laying sadly its case looking as all the people passed it by.

“Boss!” She called.

“Going.” He called back walking up to her.

She watched as he inspected the cat with his glare.

“Adrien wants a black kitten,” She said with a laugh. “He’s a fan of Chat Noir.”

“I see.” He said.

“Are you gonna get the poodle pup?” She asked with a giggle.

“What makes you say that?” He snapped.

“You two were having quite the staring contest, plus a pet would do you good.” She said.

“I don’t have time for a dog.” He said with a frown.

“You and Adrien would bond well over pet care,” She said with a smile. “Plus, it would do great things for your public image.”

“You think so?” He asked looking back at the pup.

“Yes.” She said with a nod.

******** 

Gabriel had not expected to leave the store with both a puppy and a kitten. He had thought that two would instantly try to kill each other but surprisingly they got along well. Maria—ahem, Miss Balboa—was a natural with them and somehow both animals adored her instantly.

They arrived at their destination. He exited first to help Miss Balboa out.

“Our driver would be glad to take you home.” He said as he took the two fur balls into his hands.

“Do you think he could drop me off at the Bourgeois hotel? I need to go visit my grandmother.” She said.

“He will.” He said with a nod.

“Thank you,” She said. “Oh boss, you got something on your cheek.”

She motioned for him to move a bit closer and he did so lowering his head a bit. She bit her lip nervously before quickly pecking him on the cheek.

“Don’t read too much into that…” She said quietly looking away.

Gabriel nodded and said, “Right well… Good night.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you're wondering. Adrien names his kitten The Dowager Catress and Gabriel names his Puppy Winnie the Poodle.   
> Please leave any thoughts :D


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A filler chapter I wanted to post that introduces some important characters and gives you an idea of what the rest of Maria’s family is like :D

 Maria sighed as she finally managed to get to her grandparent’s hotel room. She took a deep breath as she knocked on the door.

Her grandmother opened the door. She gave a weak smile to the confused older woman. She looked over her grandmother. Her blond hair mixed with grey hairs and her blue eyes beginning to cloud with worry. She watched as her grandfather stood up. The dark skinned man frowned at her.

“Mija, what are you doing here, you know what time is it?” He asked pulling her over for a hug.

“Sorry. I just needed to visit you guys.” She said hugging him harder.

“Come in.” The short woman said motioning towards the room.

Maria pulled away from her grandfather and walked in.

“Que paso?” Her grandmother asked as they all sat on the bed.

Maria sighed. She looked to the floor.

“My tia Marcia is making it impossible to live,” She said. “She broke the lock on my door and then started telling me it was my fault.”

“She did what?” her grandmother yelled.

Maria and her grandfather both jumped a bit at her yell. Maria gave a nod.

“I am going to give that pinche zora a piece of my mind tomorrow!” She said. “Jose, you pack our things. Tomorrow I’m telling off Emmanuel’s stupid sister.”

“Ay, veija, we worry about it tomorrow. Anyways,” Her grandfather said. “Why didn’t you come straight after work? Aaron told us that your boss let you out early.”

Maria looked at the floor and turned red. There was no way in hell she would tell her grandparents that she had spent a good while in a pet shop with her boss. Or even worse, that she kissed his cheek.

“Mija…” Her grandmother asked. She could hear the suspicious grin forming on her grandmother’s face. “Were you out with your boss?”

“No!” She squeaked in terror.

“You were!” Her grandfather announced laughing. “Look at how red you’re turning. You only get that red when you’re caught lying.”

“Please don’t mention this to my parents.” She sighed in defeat.

“Ugh, AJ is no fun and Suzanna worries too much. Besides, your boss is a handsome man. They should be applauding your taste.” Her grandmother said. “Besides, if I weren’t married to your grandpa, I would go after that nice piece of ass too.”

“Grandpa, control your wife!” She cried.

“Nah.” The old man replied. “She’s just talking out of her ass. She married the town stud.”

“You must’ve killed him good if you’re married to grandma now.” Maria muttered.

“Excuse you! I’ll have you know that all the women worshipped the ground I walked on!” the old man huffed.

“Sure.” Maria and her grandmother said rolling her eyes.

“Well I’m gonna go home now.” Maria said with a laugh. “I’ll see you two tomorrow?”

“Of course!” Her grandmother said hugging her again.

******************* 

Maria blushed as she rode home in the taxi. She silently prayed that Mr. Agreste would not read too much into the kiss on the cheek. She hadn’t known why she had done that. Okay, it may have been a bit to do with her crush. She had been grateful that he had taken time to help distract her. Why he had done she had no idea. She had followed his order to not read much into it.

Although a part of her could not help but think that in some inane way her feelings were returned. The idea of it was rather impossible, but a girl could dream and she knew she would be dreaming tonight. She also prayed that her grandparents would keep their silence about her whereabouts. Her family already had enough fuel to harass her until she was at least forty.

*****************

Gabriel sat on his bed looking down at his book while petting his puppy. He was trying to hard not to focus on the kiss to his cheek. She had told him to not read too much into it. But his mind had other ideas which included wondering what would have happened if he had moved his face fast enough.

Truthfully, the idea of perhaps whatever alarming feelings he had being mutual excited him despite the fact that it was a sudden revelation. Well it was not sudden. He had liked her for a while; it was only now he was a bit more inclined to admit it. The spot that she had kissed made him feel warm. How long had it been since he had intimate and gentle affection from a woman?

His thoughts became dark rather quickly as they turned to his wife. Was he moving on too quickly? It had only been four years since his wife died. He wondered if Adrien ever got that guilt of liking Maria’s presence. He couldn’t blame the boy if he didn’t; Maria was a completely different person from Clarisse.  

Clarisse had been a soft spoken woman who was generally very conservative with her thoughts and preferred to silently watch as people debated and only gave her opinion when asked. Maria, on the other hand, was not soft. She was loud and very liberal in her thoughts. She always gave her opinion and would gladly instigate a fight if caught in the right mood.

He laughed at the thought; Maria would probably fight herself if she had the opportunity. He would admit that was what drew him to her. She wouldn’t stand back and let him go on his tirades. She would meet him full on with her own rage and it impressed him.

****************** 

~The Next Day~

******************  

Maria sat up in bed and groaned. She had only gotten two or three hours of sleep. She had a hard time sleeping the night before seeing as a pair of misty blue eyes had invaded her thoughts. Really, she didn’t know why he did that. But then again, it wasn’t him. It was all her in the end.

Her eyes drifted to the dusty book she kept on her dresser. She stood up and looked at it. It was a slightly older copy of the original version of beauty and the beast. She smiled as she looked at it. She was still surprised. The book had been out of her budget and he just took it out of her hands paid and then handed it to her without so much as a word.

Her smile grew as she opened the book to the last part she was one. She read one line before setting it down.  She wondered what she would wear that way. She knew if she put on one of her tighter dresses she could probably (hopefully?) catch Mr. Agreste’s attention but she would probably never heard the end of it from all her family.

She looked through her closet and settled on a false two piece dress that had a deep purple top and a black bottom skirt that was a bit tight. She examined it a bit before deciding to put it on. She began to work on her hair deciding it was best to curly it and leave it down.  She grabbed a pair of black heels and walked into her kitchen.

“Good morning.” Her dad called from the kitchen.

“Yo…” She greeted walking in. “What’s cooking?”

“Eggs, bacon, and waffles.” Aaron said taking a seat.

“You look nice.” Her dad commented handing her a cup of coffee. “I boiled it with a cinnamon stick since you like your fancy flavors.”

“Thanks dad,” She said with a smile. “Is mom asleep?”

“Yeah. She screamed into her pillow until she knocked out.” Her dad said with a shrug. “Where did you go? You didn’t come home until late last night.”

“I went to visit grandma.” She replied taking a sip of her coffee.

“Ah Okay.” Her dad said.

“She said she’s gonna need the boys later.” Maria said. “I’m gonna eat then do my make up.”

“Mari,” Her dad said. “Be careful. They got a lot of monsters here and I don’t want you to get caught up in that.”

“It’s fine. The monsters here are pretty tame.” She said with a smile.

“I know.” He said with a frown.

Maria smiled and began to serve herself some food. Something told her that it was going to be a good day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I start school tomorrow so I wanted to get this up :D Hopefully I can still keep a consistent update schedule.


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH THIS CHAPTER WAS SUPPOSED TO BE OUT SUNDAY BUT SCHOOL
> 
> also sorry. I’m so excited about other parts that details give me slight writer’s block.

Gabriel sat at the breakfast table with Winnie happily lying on his lap while he read the morning paper. He took a sip of his coffee while contemplating a revelation that came to him early that morning. He had acknowledged he had certain feelings that were not professional for a certain Miss Balboa but this had very little to do with that. Well it did, but not so much about her as it was about Adrien.

How had he not realized it sooner? The boy had been trying to set them up. For how long, he had no clue. But he knew the boy had been up to it for a while. He wondered if he should confront the boy about it or not. On one hand he could get him to stop and let things run their own course but that would involve admitting his feelings to someone and that was not on his agenda for the week, but, on the other hand if he didn’t the boy would could accidentally compromise him and let people see what a mess he actually was when it came to women.

There was a third option he had considered: playing the boy at his own game. If Adrien wanted to play match maker with him, he could certainly play back. The boy was far too much like his mother. He was too easy to read when it came to where his affections lay. But he was also his father’s son, meaning the boy had probably come with a thousand reasons why he shouldn’t go for it.

That literally made the whole idea even more appealing. If his son wanted to interfere with his non-existent love life then he would do the same for him.

He took another sip of his coffee as Adrien as and his friends walked into the dining room. He noted that Adrien walked rather closely to Marinette who apparently was holding the Dowager Catress in her arms. He took another sip to hide the smug smirk on his face. Option three was definitely the best option to act upon.

“Morning dad.” Adrien greeted with a sheepish smile.

“Good Morning,” He replied taking another sip. “I trust you had fun last night.”

“We did!” Adrien replied.

“That’s good.” Gabriel said taking Winnie off his lap and putting her on the table.

“Dad, how come you’re not at work?” Adrien asked.

Oh this was going to be too easy. Besides it was a win/win situation.

“I was hoping to be able to speak with Miss Marinette.” He replied simply.

Both teenagers looked confused. Really, this was way too easy.

“H-have I done something wrong, sir?” She asked nervously.

“Nothing is wrong,” He said. “I would suggest you take a seat though, but I think Adrien might be quick enough to catch you.”

“Why?” She and Adrien squeaked turning red.

“I was hoping to speak to you about coming to work for me once the summer starts.” He said watching the two teens.

He was well aware the other two were gaping. Miss Marinette looked at him wide eyed with her mouth open. Adrien was just as surprised.

Gabriel used all his self-control to keep from grinning.

“Miss Marinette?” He asked.

“I… I...” She began. “Really Mr. Agreste?”

“Yes, really. You have quite a bit of talent in you and I think it would benefit you to start getting experience now,” He said. “Adrien will also be present if you are worried about being the only teenager there. He’s the firm’s designated coffee boy.”

“I have to do that again?” Adrien whined.

“Yes.” His father said. “You said you weren’t interested in being my successor and I need to keep you off your computer before you go blind on me.”

“Pfft. I won’t go blind.” Adrien said with a scoff.

“I said the same thing 15 years ago, son, and now, I am getting close to being legally blind.” Gabriel said taking off his glasses to clean them.

“You’re exaggerating.” Adrien said. “Anyways, why the sudden offer?”

“Adrien,” Gabriel began. “This is business related. I have been thinking about since the bowler hat competition and felt that it was now best to offer your friend the summer work. You know that I am very picky about who I choose to work for me. I only want the best and Miss Marinette is the best for her skills at the moment. With this she can become better.”

“And now you’re giving her the offer?” Adrien said putting a hand on the stunned girl’s shoulder. “It’s pretty out of the blue for me.”

“So have your comments about my love life, or lack thereof,” Gabriel said standing up. “Well I must be off. Have a good morning and if you need anything I will be in my office.”

*******************  

Adrien watched as his father left and noted that he had a smug aura around him. He looked to Marinette who was still holding Her Highness (his nick name for the cutie) in her arms as she stared in shock.

“Marinette?” He asked.

“I just… your dad just offered me a summer job?” She asked

“Yeah.” Adrien said pulling her into his arm. “That was weird.”

“He’s right about Mari being talented though.” Nino said.

“I gotta agree with the bae on this, Adrien,” Alya said. “Mari is pretty talented and your dad has a weird habit of only getting people who are extremely talented. I mean look at that suit collection done by Eponine Laura. No one could believe that she was a first time designer.”

“OH MY GOSH!” Marinette squealed.

**********************  

Marinette smiled as she looked at Adrien. She felt so happy to have her hard work acknowledged by one of her idols.

“This is so exciting!!! I take my coffee with a shot of espresso and lots of chocolate.” She said handing him his cat.

“Really?” Adrien sighed.

“Yes!” She said as she began to jump in excitement.

“Wow, Adrien, you really got your summer all figured out. Think your dad needs an extra coffee boy.” Nino teased.

Marinette looked to Adrien and gave a big grin. Her grin fell when she realized he didn’t look excited about anything. She stopped jumping and tried to keep a happy look on her face.

“Why are you getting upset?” Adrien asked tilting his head.

“You seem unhappy about this.” She said. She figured her coffee joke had probably made him cranky.

“Pfft of course. You’ve never seen my dad without coffee. He’s such a drama queen.” Adrien said with a laugh. “I wouldn’t want to subject you to that.”

Marinette looked at him and then said, “Its fine. You should see my mom when we run out of green tea.”

“I say, we should eat breakfast.” Alya announced.

Marinette nodded allowing her giddiness to return. She sat down next to Alya and Adrien sat next to her. Everything seemed a bit better.

***************** 

Maria walked into work feeling a bit agitated. Normally she would’ve been perfectly fine with everything but she knew her home was pretty much going to be a warzone. Aaron walked next to her looking down at his phone smiling every time it vibrated.

She felt kind of jealous as she watched him. She knew it was stupid, but part of her wondered why had all the luck in finding someone to place his affections on that wasn’t out of his league. She quickly shook those feelings. He was lucky he had managed to find someone after all he had been through. She knew that after he had lost his first love a part of him had left with the other boy.  Whatever feelings of jealousy she had left just as quickly as they came.

“Hey.” Aaron began. “Where were you before you hit up grandma’s hotel room?”

“Out.” She replied. “How’s Theo?”

“He’s good. He’s been tired lately, though. He has to work like three jobs to pay rent this month.” Aaron said with a sigh. “We’ve been together for a short while but honestly I kind of want to move in with him and help him out. He’s just this wonderful ball of emotion and it feels like I’m not doing enough to support him and his art career.”

“Why do you say that?” Maria asked.

“It’s just…he’s working so hard and I feel like if I start bringing up stuff like that it’ll seem like I’m trying to move things faster and then if Mom  finds out then I’ll never hear the end of it. ‘You’re moving too fast. This is just you trying to forget Joey….’ Blah blah blah.” He said with a sigh.

“Just do it.” Maria said. “You’ve got your own money; you’ve got your own career and let’s face it. Theo is great for you. He’s not the cure for your depression but he helps you a lot more than anyone else does. Plus you two have a really good connection. I’ve never seen too people so happy with just literally talking to each other over a bowl of ramen and a shitty romance movie.”

“You think so?” Aaron asked with a smile.

Maria smiled back. Really, her brother deserved all the happiness in the world.

“Of course, I do. You deserve all the happiness in the world.” She said.

“Aaaw!” He cried pulling her into a hug. “Have I mentioned you’re the best? I need to get you a proper husband so you can be really happy!”

“First, we get your ass married.” She said.

She hugged him back quickly before pulling away. She looked into his brown eyes and was glad to see that there was a small spark of life that she had recalled being a wild flame when she was a child. Even if he could never truly be that person he was a boy, the man he was in that moment was more than enough for her as long as he could give a real smile every once in a while.

********************************    
Aaron wrapped his arm around Maria’s shoulder as he watched Gabriel walk in. The man looked formal as usual but he seemed to be radiating a smugness that could probably be felt in china.

“Did you kill a man today?” Aaron asked.

“No but the day is still young.” Gabriel replied.

“Please don’t kill anyone until Sunday. I still need my paycheck.” Maria said with a groan.

“Now I have to kill a man, Miss Balboa.” Gabriel said.

“Ugh. Whatever. I gotta go do something productive.” She said with a huff.

“Aaaw is the princess upset?” He teased.

“Damn straight I am a princess and I am upset. I gotta do work.” She said walking away.

Aaron watched her until she left and then turned to Gabriel who was also watching her go. Oh boy. Now was the perfect time to have fun.

“Yo, you need a wife?” He asked.

“Why in the hell would you ask me that?” Gabriel snapped.

“Well if Maria insists on claiming she’s a princess, I, as the oldest male and her legal guardian in Paris, must see to it that we use her to secure an alliance with the richest French asshole available.” Aaron said with a smirk. “And you fit the bill.”

“And then what? Are you going to invade Russia in the winter? Because I only thought Napoléon was that stupid. “Gabriel said walking away.

“He was stupid but even he would be able to tell that you were looking at Maria’s ass,” Aaron said. “If you need a repeat, I have a similar ass.”

“I’m sure your boyfriend appreciates that.” Gabriel deadpanned walking away.

“He does, just like you appreciate Maria’s.” Aaron said with a grin.

“Do your job or I’m calling your superior for a replacement.” Gabriel said with a frown.

Aaron smiled wryly before walking to the main computer room. Riling up that man had been fun enough. He knew sexual tension when he saw it and he could see it between one Mister Gabriel Agreste and his cute little sister, Maria.

Besides, they were a good match. He brought out Maria’s will to fight and seemed to make her calmer. While no one had actually noticed, he knew his sister was not social. In fact, she hated most if not all social situations. He knew she had good reason too. All her friends tended to ignore her feelings which made her less likely to open up and voice her opinions. He had noted that despite his position as her boss, Gabriel Agreste seemed to almost force her to fight him.

He liked them together. They brought out emotions from each other that had probably been dormant for a long time. He just hoped Adrien knew what he was doing. If that boy didn’t get things done soon, he would certainly put his hand in and shove them into every cliché possible to get them to admit they liked each other.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah Aaron has gone through some shit ;3; but he has love now so he'll be slightly better


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH  
> THIS IS MY VALENTINES GIFT TO YOU WONDERFUL READERS AND TO MY ADOPTED CHILDREN <3 PLEASE ENJOY THIS EXTRA LONG FREAKING CHAPTER

Maria felt drowsy as she, Eponine, and Mr. Agreste sat on the nearest table looking through Google trying to find the aesthetic that would suit the new line. She took a sip of the third coffee she had gotten that morning as she tried to keep her focus.  

She looked to Eponine who seemed to be pretty productive and then to Mr. Agreste who was also as productive. She looked to her own and frowned. She really needed to focus. She took another swig of her coffee before opening another tab on the internet. She had been looking into the various sub-eras of Victorian fashion and nothing had interested her. She decided her best choice was to look at revolutionary fashion. She was in a fighting mood anyways—even if she was about to fall asleep at any given moment.

“Doesn’t your neck burn?” She heard Eponine ask.

She looked to Eponine and then to Mr. Agreste who was also looking at her. She blinked once and then once more. She looked to her coffee and then to her boss and co-worker.

“Once you have coffee come out of your nose, you become a dragon.” She said casually taking another swig. “Also, I am about to knock out so let me enjoy the caffeine.”

“I’m just saying that it’s probably hurting you.” Eponine mumbled.

“It’s not. It’s actually pretty cold,” Maria said. “But don’t worry. I’ve had worse happen with piping hot coffee.”

“Like it coming out of your nose?” Mr. Agreste said with a _slightly teasing tone_?

She gave a snort.

“Yes. Although to be fair, I think having shrimp come out of your nose is grosser.” She said taking another chug.

“And I assume you speak from experience?” He asked picking up his pencil.

“My twin sister had shrimp come out of her nose.” Maria said grabbing her pencil.

“That sounds gross.” Eponine said going back to her searching.

“It was. Aaron ate it.” Maria said.

“That’s disgusting.” She heard her boss say.

“You would be surprised at what he will willingly eat,” Maria said with a snort. “He’s the only person who can survive my grandma’s salsa with minimal damage.”

“You make it sound like its toxic.” Eponine said.

“That shit will make the devil cry with how spicy it can get.” Maria said.

“Can you handle spices?” Eponine asked.

“Nope. I have to drizzle a very small amount of green salsa on my meat. If I add too much I cry. I’m a wimp,” Maria said with a laugh. “What about you Eponine?”

“I can only handle mild spices. What about you, boss?” Eponine said looking at Mr. Agreste.

“I can eat about six or seven chili peppers raw before it starts affecting me.” He replied casually reaching for his own coffee.

Maria stared at him in shock.

“You’re more hardcore than my grandma…” She said without thinking.

“Maria, oh my god, you can’t just tell your boss that.” Eponine said between giggles.

“Well I assume your grandmother probably can handle spice better than I can. You did just say her salsa could make the devil cry.” Mr. Agreste said taking a sip.

“Still, you’re eating them raw… why the fuck would you eat them raw?” Maria asked.

“Two things, watch your language, and long story short it was a bet,” He replied. “Go back to work now the both of you.”

Maria smiled wryly and Eponine before going back to looking at the computer.

************************************ 

Gabriel had been surprised by the random conversation but none the less, he was pleasantly amused. Not that he would ever admit it, he was still a ruthless bastard to the world and he would like to keep it that way.  

He frowned as he entered a new search. Really who would’ve thought a widow would have such a hard time figuring how to make a wedding dress. But then again, he hadn’t even designed his own wife’s dress. The line was his first time trying it.

“Boss, what was your wife’s dress like?” Miss Laura asked.

“It was a plain old summer dress that just had a blue sash added to it.” He replied automatically remembering the dress. Clarisse had insisted on wearing the dress she wore when they had first gone on a date as her wedding dress. He hadn’t been one to argue with her. He liked that dress too much to say no.  It had been symbolic for the both of them.

“You didn’t make it?” Miss Laura asked tilting her head. “Why?”

“The dress she had was symbolic to us.” He said with a frown. He hated having to explain himself.

“That’s romantic,” Miss Balboa said with a wistful smile. “Did she wear that dress before?”

“Yes and that’s all you two need to know. Why is this even coming up?” He snapped.

“We figured since you’re the one who’s actually had a wedding you would have a better idea of what to do,” Miss Laura said. “I suppose Miss Sancouer is out of the question.”

“She wore a white suit to her own wedding.” Gabriel said. He almost wanted to laugh when he remembered how Philippe had taken to it. 

“ _It’s easier for me to slip off!”_ He had stated.

“SHE’S MARRIED?” both women shrieked.

“Yes, pipe down.” He said putting a finger to his ear to shut them out.

Both of the young women looked dumbfounded.

“How come she doesn’t wear a ring?” Miss Balboa asked.

“That is none of your concern.” Gabriel said. Really, these two needed to stop prying.

“Mr. Agreste, you have three phone calls.” Nathalie said walking in with several large files.

“I’ll be right on it.” He said.

“Hey Miss Sancouer, is it true that you’re married?” Miss Laura asked.

“I am…” Nathalie replied raising an eyebrow and giving him a confused look. “Is there a reason you need to know?”

“There is no reason, it merely came up,” He replied. “Miss Laura and Miss Balboa were hoping for some insight to the new line from actual brides.”

“Oh well. They might as well ask someone who gives more attention to that kind of thing. Anyways, the Spain office is calling about a hack and so are the offices in Milan and Istanbul.” Nathalie said.

“Call Mr. Balboa to my office and we will handle it.” He said standing up with a frown.

“Right away, sir.” She said with a nodded before taking her leave. He followed quickly after her.

****************** 

“I was surprised you even mentioned my marriage.” Nathalie said.

“They started to ask and it slipped before I could stop myself.” He replied with a frown.

“I’m sure Philippe will get a kick out of this.” Nathalie said letting a small devious smirk.

“He doesn’t need to know.” Gabriel snapped.

“About what? The fact you mentioned something about your personal life to employees,” Nathalie said entering his office. “Because you can’t stop me from complaining to him.”

“Ugh. I’m never going to hear the end of it with him. All he’s going to do is call me at three AM and then sing to me all his feelings.” Gabriel said with a groan as he picked up the call monitor.

“Mr. Agreste! Thank god!” Three voices said at once. He took a deep breath and put on his hardest face.

“What exactly is going on?” He snapped.

“We’ve been experiencing several hacks within the last week and we fear that they’re looking for the designs.” The Spanish woman on the board explained. She bit her lip and he frowned.

“I will have this matter investigated from the main firm computer. I have a specialist who will be on this at this very instant.” He said.

“Mr. Agreste, there was also an attempt to look at the finances.” The Turkish Man said.

“I need you all to calm down. This will be dealt with. Have all of your employees cease any computer activities and change all their password settings for the time being.” He said shutting the screens off. “Is Balboa coming or not.”

“I’m here.” The young man said walking in. “What’s the situation?”

“There has been a hack in three of our firms. Is there anyways you can figure out what’s going on?” Gabriel replied.

“I’m offended that you asked,” Mr. Balboa said. “I can have it fixed and get you all the data on the fucker who sent the hack.”

“Is foul language a family thing?” Gabriel asked with a frown.

“It’s more of a cultural thing, actually.” Mr. Balboa replied with a grin.

“Try not to use it too often.” Gabriel said.

“I called you an asshole this morning and you’re more concerned about the fact that both I and the princess dropped an F-bomb,” Mr. Balboa said. “What the heck are your priorities, man?”

“Get to work, Mr. Balboa.” He said with a frown.

“You have to say it properly.” The younger man said with a stupid smile.

“Now.”

***********************

Rosario Felix-Balboa was a woman who liked to think she was decent at the most. She knew she had a temper and that her temper had been one that was not usually to be provoked. But of course, that did not stop one Marcia Delgado from pissing her off. She would have kept her tongue; she knew her son’s father-in-law could not oust the woman because one did not disrespect the wishes of the dead, but that did not mean she could not tell off the woman.

She looked to her husband who kept a straight face. While the dark man had always been a loud mouth, he would always become eerily silent when it came to their family. She knew he was trying to hold back quite a few things to tell to the other woman.

The two of them were walking with their grandson, Arturo, who seemed confused about what was going on. The black haired boy did not question anything when she had called him to come help them get their things. He looked just as tired as his sister had been yesterday.

“Mijo, when we get there you and your brothers should take a nap.” She said putting a hand on his shoulder.

“Okay, Grandma.” He said as they came to the apartment complex.

Rosario smiled and walked behind him. Oh boy was Marcia Delgado gonna get it.

**************************

It had been four hours since they had started and they were still at square one. Maria wanted to yell because of how silent it got. She had a hard time working in the quiet, even as a child. She needed sound something, not just human breathing.

She groaned and smacked her head against the table. Why was this being so hard? She had gotten into design because she wanted to make wedding dresses in the first place.

“Don’t hurt my tables, Miss Balboa.” She heard her boss say.

“You’re not the boss of me.” She replied with a huff.

“Your paycheck says otherwise.” He said.

“Yeah well I think you’re a butthead.” She said looking up at him.

“I wasn’t aware I hired a child.” He said raising an eyebrow.

“You’ve told me that ten times this week alone. You should be very aware that you hired a child with a drinking permit by now.” She said.

“I am becoming all too aware of that fact, Miss Balboa,” He said with a frown. “Is there a reason for your rather strange actions?”

“I can’t focus! It’s too quiet!” She stated. “It’s hurting my head with how quiet it is.”

“Then get your headphones and listen to your music.” He snapped. “I don’t care what stimulates you, just work.”

Eponine let out a snort which caused Maria to frown.

“Butthead.” She mumbled taking her headphones out of her phone.

She heard a snicker and annoyed sigh before tuning both of them out to sounds of Ice Cube blasting in her ears.

******************************** 

Adrien sighed as he walked to his father’s business. He needed to talk to Aaron. He knew that poor written chicken scratch anywhere. Aaron had a distinctive type of writing that could pretty much be identified anywhere.

He learned how to identify it when he saw his father complain about the hand written notes the older of the Balboa siblings would give him.

*********************************** 

Aaron leaned on the desk playing with a few codes. He figured his best bet was his secret weapon. He wasn’t the best at what he did for nothing. He pulled out a small flash drive from one of his pockets and began to fiddle with it.

“Aaron?” He snapped his head up surprised to see the Mini Agreste looking at him nervously.

“Sup, Adrien,” He greeted. “Did you need something?”

Adrien shifted before pulling out the note card he had secretly dropped into Maria’s gift bag. He grinned and motioned for him to come in.

“Shut the door, we have much to talk about, young padawan.” Aaron said with a grin.

Adrien looked a bit scared but did so before sitting down.

“First things first, get Plagg out, that cheese head hasn’t even said hello to me since I’ve gotten here,” Aaron began. “And second, I am excited to know that me and the current Chat Noir are obviously on the same page.”

“Wait what!? You were a previous Chat Noir?” Adrien yelled as Plagg tumbled out. He laughed looking at the obviously irate kwami.

“Ugh, why do I have to be stuck in the room with two-thirds of the biggest love struck losers on the planet?” Plagg whined.

“You always whine about love because you miss Tikki, you little shit.” Aaron said. “I know you were so happy when me and Jo-Jo revealed because you could finally be with your girlfriend.”

“I did not miss her and she is not my girlfriend!” Plagg cried.

“I am a beautiful and innocent homosexual; I do not have time for your heterosexual lies Plagg.” Aaron said with a scoff.

Adrien let out a giggle.

“So ladybug’s Kwami is named Tikki?” Adrien asked.

“Is this kid fucking… oh my god? What the hell is it with ladybugs and their secret identity,” Aaron said with a sigh.

“Hell if I know.” Adrien said leaning forward. “How come you sent me that message?”

“Eh? I don’t know. I thought it would be fun to mess with the new kitten. You got lucky though, all the akuma here seem pretty tame.” Aaron said. “Anyways, I gotta look into this hack that happened in a few of out of country offices.”

“Why?” Adrien asked.

“Because it’s fun.” Aaron responded.

The two of them heard a vibration from one of the phones. Aaron looked at his and realized he was getting a call.

************************ 

Adrien watched as Aaron spoke on the phone. His father had set him up to learn Spanish after mandarin. Of course his father’s reasoning for both languages was because of all the trade with Spain and the fact that China’s middle class market was growing.

He went back to watching Aaron quickly instead of drifting off. He watched as a panicked look crossed his face. Aaron hung up and then looked gravely at him.

“Does your dad understand Spanish?” Aaron asked looking at him in terror.

“Yeah…” He replied unsure of why that was important.

“Oh okay. Umm… how fucked up would he be knowing that there is a video of Maria stating she’s gonna marry him?” Aaron asked.

“There is!” Adrien gasped. He stood up looking at Aaron. “That’s perfect!”

“No you don’t understand, Maria is three and saying this shit, we’ve been trying to get rid of it forever.” Aaron said. “Maria might not be able to deal with your dad if he finds out.”

“What if she can?” Adrien asked. “I mean she’s said weirder in front of him. Once she and Eponine were talking about kinks and she said her kink was old assholes with money.”

“Hahaha, liar. She’s into people’s necks.” Aaron said with a laugh. “Okay so we might not need to do damage control, but we should go warn her.”

*************************

Gabriel was very surprised when he saw a small old woman with greying brown hair and a young man with brown hair. He could’ve said he had no idea who they were but that would be a lie. The old woman looked like Maria except for the shortness and the wrinkles but other than that, she had defiant eyes that told him she would not take his shit for anything. The young man was obvious relation. He had a similar facial structure to Aaron except his face was clean shaven while the other man had peach fuzz and green eyes.

“May I help you?” He asked.  Miss Balboa and Miss Laura were both too engrossed in their music and work to notice the two.

“Yes,” the young man said. “We need the annoying Blondie.”

“I am assuming you mean Miss Balboa?” he said.

“Yeah, Grandma wants to have lunch with her and Aaron told us that she usually gets off at one.” The young man said.

“ **Sweetie, ask him if she’s been behaving.** ” The old woman said in Spanish. He had expected that. Miss Balboa had stated proudly she was of mixed decent—and randomly mentioned that she hated hearing Spaniards talk. He often wondered if he should begin to threaten to send her to her to the Barcelona office.

“ **Your granddaughter is usually of tolerable behavior**.” He said looking to the young woman who seemed far too engrossed in her work and then to the boy who both looked relieved and amused.

“ **Oh how good! I was worried because this girl starts showing her nasty side when she gets uncomfortable,** ” The old woman exclaimed. “ **I’m Rosario Felix-Balboa and this is my grandson, Arturo. We’re so sorry to come in announced but I was hoping to get lunch with my little girl. She mentioned you had a son, so you must know what it’s like to want to spend time with those you love!** ”

Gabriel almost flinched. He was really bad about spending time with Adrien. They had started spending more time together but he still felt awkward around his son. He didn’t know how to really interact with him, which was why they were in therapy in the first place.

“ **I’m afraid I don’t spend a lot of time with him.** ” He replied wondering how loud the two young women had their music if they hadn’t realized that there were two others in the room.

“ **Oh that’s a shame. At his age, he really needs his father. You should really try. I would hate for that boy to feel alone with the world.** ” The old woman said with a slight frown.

“ **I’ll keep that in mind. Why don’t you take Miss Balboa now?** ” He said motioning towards the young woman in front of him.

“ **I could but she would probably wind up staying later than usual and I want her home early.** ” The old woman said with a sigh.

“ **Take her,** ” he insisted. “ **I will have her back to you early. She’s been working far too much lately anyways.** ”

Well it was more like she was going to drive him to bankruptcy with how early she came and how late she left, but her grandmother didn’t need to know that. Not that he wanted her to have a good impression or anything. In all truth, despite her kind demeanor, the old woman frightened the hell out of him for some reason.

“ **Ah how wonderful! Oh sir, what can I call you?  I know you’re my granddaughter’s boss but names have been escaping me as of late.** ” She said with a small jump of excitement. Maria tended to do a full hop that lasted about a minute when she got excited… not that he noticed… okay, yes he did but he wasn’t sure if that was something you were supposed to notice about someone you were… how would one put it…? Attracted to in an emotional sense? That seemed about right.

“ **Gabriel Agreste**.” He responded.

The old woman smiled as if she had just won enough money to pay back the entire debt of the world and then some.

“ **Ahh!! I have to show him the video!** ” the old woman exclaimed.

Video? Why the hell would she need to show him a video?

“ **Grandma?** ” he heard Miss Balboa say. She looked up at him confused so he pointed his pencil signaling for her to turn around. Miss Balboa looked back before jumping out of her seat in terror. “ **I’m so sorry Grandma. I was really into my sketching!** ”

He almost wanted to laugh at the startled look that graced her face.

“ **Miss Balboa, your grandmother wants your presence for lunch. I would suggest you go, now.** ” He said with a shooing motion.

“Butthead.” She muttered once again.

“I’m the butthead who signs your paycheck, so watch it with the name calling.” He replied.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” She replied grabbing her purse.

“Aren’t you going to take your laptop?” He asked.

“Nah, I trust you.” She replied casually.

He watched as they left. He took a brief moment to appreciate Miss Balboa’s dress. It really was quite suiting for a woman of her body type. He went back to work trying to see if he could find something to inspire him.

****************************** 

Aaron almost wanted to scream when he realized he had been too late. He should’ve known something was up when it was his grandfather talking to him. Usually, his grandmother would be the one to call up everyone and make her demands.

The old woman smiled sweetly at him and he could practically see his life flash before his eyes. Maria may have been born to his parents, but she most certainly took after their grandmother in the fact that you could practically feel their anger even when they were smiling.

“Heheee.” He said nervously.

“ **Sweetie we’re going to lunch, come with us!** ” His grandmother said with a smile.

“ **Ah sure let me just take Adrien to his dad.** ” He replied pulling Adrien to his side and rushing him forward.

“God damn it. I forgot how horrifying those two could be together.” Aaron said with a sigh. “I’m gonna leave you here and go eat lunch.”

“It’s fine. My dad said we were gonna eat lunch together anyways.” Adrien said. “Good luck not dying.”

“Pffft. I’m a black cat, I’ll live.” Aaron replied before going off.

************************

Adrien laughed as he watched the man leave with his family. It was weird to know that he had once been Chat Noir but at the same time, it kind of made sense. He could see him jumping from building to building with his ladybug… He wondered if the previous Ladybug was there in Paris too.

He walked to the sketch room where his dad and Eponine where. Much to his surprise his dad was only there. He figured Eponine probably went off to get some lunch too.

“Hey dad.” He greeted.

“Hello, Adrien. Do you know what you want for lunch?” His dad asked.

“I was just thinking getting something at Marinette’s Bakery and coming back here. It looks like this project is getting to you more than usual.” Adrien said with a casual shrug.

“We can go right now, if you want.” His dad said getting up.

“I’ll go get them. I wanna see what you’re working on.” Adrien said. “Just tell me what you want!”

“Anything is fine as long as it’s not too sweet then.” Gabriel said. “Let me get you the card.”

“I’m paying.” Adrien said dashing out before his father could say anything. He was excited that his dad was ready to just put everything down. He figured today he would try and deal with the fashion industry so that they could try more real talking.

******************************************

It had been about forty minutes since Adrien and his dad had been sitting on there and Adrien had to admit, it was actually pretty interesting to talk about interests with his dad. As he learned, his dad hadn’t actually got into Fashion until he was in college and then from there expanded on that.

He had wound up telling his dad about his interest in Physics which he was surprised to see a lot of support which included asking him if he wanted a physics tutor that would take him into the more advanced part of the science.

“So dad, I know we didn’t really get to have lunch, but this was fun! We should try to have meals together more often.” He said.

“We should.” His dad said with a rare smile forming. “Next time we’ll actually go somewhere and I’m paying.”

“Sure dad.” He said returning the smile.   
****************************************** 

Maria smiled as she sat at her house eating with her family. It had been a while since she had a meal with all of them. She looked to the little black haired girl on her lap. Her little goddaughter had gotten so big since she had seen her.

“Nina!” the little girl cried in joy.

“Yes, Mija?” She asked taking another bite of her enchiladas.

“Are you gonna be Cinderella?” Luciana asked. “Is that why you have that dress?”

“Did Nino Ronnie let you into my room?” Maria asked she shook her head in laughter.

“Yeah!” the four year old said. “You have glass slippers too!”

“Aaah. He showed you my crystal heels.” Maria said with a tinge of pride. “I’m gonna wear those to the Gala for Manny and Juanito next Sunday.”

“Oooh the fancy party! Is your prince gonna be there?” Luciana asked clapping her hands in joy.

“I have a prince?” Maria questioned.

“Yeah! Mommy and Nana Rosa said your prince is your boss!” The girl explained. “They even showed me the video of you when you were my size!”

“AAaah why!” Maria whined.

“Because it’s fucking hilarious Mari.” She heard her sister say.

“Go fuck yourself!” Maria cried indignantly.

“I would but I got Solomon for that.” Adalina responded.

“There’s a four year old, watch what the fuck you’re saying.” Their dad said with a grunt.

Maria rolled her eyes and cleaned off her plate quickly. She really didn’t want to know what exactly went down earlier. She was just glad that her furniture was still intact and there had been no need to call the police.

************** 

Maria, Eponine, and Mr. Agreste were all back in the sketch room working. Maria’s drowsiness had returned tenfold. She wondered if this was a product of the all the lack of sleep she had been having (or not having). She struggled to keep her head up as she scrolled through Google Images.

She took a moment to rest her head and closed her eyes. She felt her sleepiness close in… surely no one would notice if she dozed off for a bit…

************

Gabriel was surprised to say the least when he realized that Miss Balboa had fallen asleep. He knew that the industry took out a lot of people (this was not the first time someone fell asleep on the job. Hell there had been quite a few occasions where he fell asleep in his own office) but it was surprising to see her knock out. She always seemed to be a ball of energy.

He said nothing and returned to his research. He looked at the time and frowned. He was planning on giving her the boot as soon as her shift was up. He looked to her sleeping form and almost felt sorry for her. Okay maybe he was a bit sorry for her. She was probably exhausted emotionally, if her crying spell the day before had anything to do with why she had been so tired that day.

He looked to Miss Laura who was packing up already.

“Clock Miss Balboa out.” He ordered.

“Do you want me to wake her up?” She asked looking at the sleeping young woman.

“I will deal with it. Just clock her out.” He said.

“Got it.” She said with a smile.

He frowned and waited until she was gone. He would give Miss Balboa another hour before her woke her. For now he would do a bit more research.

*************

An hour passed and Gabriel decided it was best to wake her up. He stood up and walked towards her unsure of what to do. He really hadn’t thought this through. This meant physical contact. God, he could hear all the lawsuits now.

He took a deep breath and put a hand on her shoulder and tried to shake her gently. He had always been told he had a rough touch.

Maria snapped up.

“I’m awake!” She said jumping off her chair and tripping on to the floor. It had to take all of his self-restraint to stop from laughing.

“Welcome to the world of the awake, Miss Balboa.” He said with a smirk. “Care to keep up?”

“Can it with the puns, boss.”  She snapped with a pout. He held out a hand to her. She took it while letting a pout form on her face.

“I believe the proper response is ‘Thank you’, Miss Balboa.” He said as he helped her stand up.

“Yeah,yeah. Thanks.” She said. “I gotta pack up.”

“Do you need a ride?” He found himself asking. He hadn’t intended to help her more than that but he found himself speaking before he could stop himself. He was going to have his impulse control checked because all this helping her was getting out of hand. So he liked her, it didn’t mean he had to show it.

“Uh… if you don’t mind? I just checked my phone and apparently it’s freaking cold outside for some reason?” She said.

“It’s probably another Akuma who was slighted because of the weather.” Gabriel said with a shrug. “Hopefully traffic isn’t too bad.”

“Ha. This is France and it’s the summer. The traffic is horrible.” Maria—ahem Miss Balboa—he need to stop with the entire informal name calling thing—said with a scoff.

“I heard California is worse, so you shouldn’t be one to complain.” He responded putting his things away.

“Did Miss Sancouer leave already?” She asked.

“I asked her to do some things for Adrien earlier so she’s probably leaving for her apartment by now.” He replied.

“Ooh, did he like his present?” She asked.

“He spent the whole night watching it with his friends.” Gabriel replied.

“I’m glad. I was worried Aaron would pick something traumatizing.” She said with a laugh.

“I would have killed him myself if that was the case.” Gabriel said grabbing his coat. He looked at Miss Balboa and noted that the weather was freakishly winter like. She was also in a short dress. He looked to his coat and knew he was going to regret his next words. “Do you want my coat?”

************  

Maria really didn’t know how the situation had gotten so weird so fast. Of course she knew there was probably an Akuma out but why did it have to be weather based. But it was weird. She and her boss were currently huddled next to each other trying not to die in the freezing cold.

She was trying not to be too close to him but at the same time it was freaking cold! He didn’t seem fazed by her closeness so she figured it wasn’t too awkward for him. She was awkward because she liked him. But he didn’t know that, and he most certainly didn’t need to know that.

“If you plan on dying due to hypothermia, I would prefer it not be on my watch.” She heard him say.

“You don’t mind if I come closer?” She squeaked.

“It’s freezing and we need the body heat.” He replied giving her a glare.

She gave a weak smile and moved closer to him and laid her head on his shoulder.

“So how long you think this will last?” she asked with a nervous laugh.

“It should be over soon.” He replied.

*****************************

The damn freeze had lasted forty minutes, Gabriel noted. Never in his life had he been gladder that he had stopped wearing tight pants. He did not need bodily responses making things more awkward than they were.

Of course after that they drive had been relatively quiet and Miss Balboa seemed more interested in her phone than in conversation. He was very grateful that she found it more interesting. He was trying to find anything to get him out of his issue.

The driver had signaled that they had arrived. Miss Balboa gave a polite smile to the driver as he opened the door for them. Gabriel got out first and then stuck out his hand to Miss Balboa. He was no heathen after all.

She took his hand with surprising ease. The driver had already gone back to his position and Gabriel felt even more awkward.

Miss Balboa said, “Boss!”

“Hmmm?” he replied.

“You got something on your shirt.” She said motioning to it.

“What?” he exclaimed looking down.

He felt himself stiffen when he felt Miss Balboa put a quick peck on his cheek. She was about to leave when he grabbed her by the hand. He didn’t want to admit it, but he would not let her off so easily.

“In Paris,” He began. “We kiss both cheeks, Maria.”

“A-ah… right.” She said… blushing?

She moved towards him and placed a peck on each of his cheek.

*************** 

Maria was sure she was going to die. She hadn’t even done the kisses properly. She had actually placed her lips on his cheeks.  She looked to the floor unsure of what to say.

Then she felt herself freeze as she realized he had kissed her cheek before going off. Only one cheek… with his lips.

“OH MY GOD.” She shrieked

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [̲̅$̲̅(̲̅ ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°̲̅)̲̅$̲̅]


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH  
> THIS CHAPTER WAS FUN TO WRITE BECAUSE WE GET TO MEET GABRIEL'S BEST FRIEND AND MARIA'S GODDAUGHTER AND WE GET SOME GRANDMA  
> GRANDMA WILL GIVE THE WORLD SHIT NEXT CHAPTER!!  
> Also for those of you who love this fic be sure to check out "Mrs. Rochester Came to Burn the House Down" it has to do with this fic :D and it'll fill all your angsty needs... i think

Aaron always hated Sundays. Especially when family was involved; because, everyone would be roped into going to church by one Rosario Felix-Balboa. He groaned as he heard his grandmother pretty much threatening the living hell out of them to get dressed. He fixed his tie knowing that if he didn’t he would get a speech about looking presentable in the eyes of the lord.

He forgot how catholic his family could be. Of course, on that day he understood why they were going. It was the sixth anniversary of the death of his great-grandmother and in reality, they were just moral support. His grandmother had always been an emotional woman, having other people with her always helped.

He, of course, while still somewhat religious had quite a fight to pick with his former pasture. He didn’t dislike the church parse, but he knew that there were quite a few people who used a heavily over translated book that probably was wrong to tell him existence was enough to warrant him a trip to hell. He internally scoffed. The devil was said to be hot as fuck, so really who was the one suffering eternal damnation here?

“Are you ready?” He heard Maria ask.

He looked to his sister was slightly impressed. Yesterday her outfit warranted that she was out to get herself a man and then commit quite a few sins and then that day she looked like the virgin Maria ready to take the responsibility of being the mother to the son of god.

He laughed as he thought of what his grandfather on his mother’s side used to say: “Naming a girl Maria usually means she can go from Guadalupe to Magdalena in matter of minutes.”

“Well aren’t you living up to Grandpa Manny’s words.” He teased.

“Haha, very funny.”  She said smoothing out the long skirt.

“I’m surprised you still have your nun skirts.” He said fixing his hair.

“Of course. They’re great for when it’s too hot to wear pants but too cold to show my knees,” She said. “Theo texted me and told me that he’s gonna be at the service.”

“Ah fuck,” he sighed. “Now he gets to meet the family. Mari-Rosa, what if grandma insists on having brunch with him! She’s gonna show him that video of me saying I’m gonna marry Tuxedo Mask! He doesn’t need to know what a nerd I am!”

“Like I want Theo seeing that video, too,” Maria said with a scoff. “I basically told the world that I would want to marry my boss.”

“Which you should by the way. You guys would have such cute babies, like imagine a kid with your hair and his eyes. I swear,” Aaron said. “When are you gonna give him his jacket back?”

“Shut the fuck up, Torro, can hear us.” She snapped.

“Right…” He said with a laugh.

“ **Mijos, we’re leaving now**!” they heard their grandmother yell.

************* 

Adrien knew the world was a strange place. He had seen monster appear of thin air; died in a strange alternate timeline; he had seen the Eiffel tower fall! He was Chat Noir for Christ sake! Yet all that strangeness he had encountered could not really prepare him for what he saw when he went into the main living room (they had like three).

His dad currently had a man who was vaguely familiar pinned on the floor in a wrestling type move? He wasn’t sure; he was only really good with fencing… and parkour. Wrestling was a very foreign thing to him and for some reason his dad had a better grasp of it? He wasn’t sure, he was pretty sure he was on drugs or something.

That would be the best explanation considering that Nathalie wasn’t in a suit (well it was still pants and button up top but not her formal work wear) and completely un-phased by his father’s lack of professionalism or the fact that the man under his father was making kissing noises…

“Uh… Dad?” He asked.

“Yes?” His father replied completely undisturbed by the situation.

“Uh… who’s this guy?” He asked looking down at the dark haired man who was staring at him with an amused grin.

“Just someone who is going to be dead very soon.” His father replied casually.

“Gabriel, let me up,” the man under his father said. “I wanna hug my godson.”

“I will let you up when you admit that I do not have a crush.” His dad said pressing the guy’s face down to the floor.

“First of all, my mother didn’t raise a lying bastard; second of all, you had her kiss both cheeks!” the man replied with a huff.

“Wait is he talking about Maria?” Adrien asked. Whoever this strange man, he obviously knew what was going on and seemed to be working in his favor.

“So that’s the pretty girl’s name. A girl who’s named after the Virgin Mary to you to fall on your knees and praise the lord!” the man said.

******* 

“Philippe, you should really do the world a favor and stop reading all those trashy romance novels.” Gabriel said with a roll of his eyes. Really, how in the hell were they still friends after all these years? Philippe was a moron.

“I would if I could, but then how would I pleasure my wife?” Philippe replied with a laugh.

“By shutting up.” They heard Nathalie say.

“Did you need something, son?” Gabriel asked looking to the boy.

“Uh…” He responded. “I was gonna ask if we could go out for breakfast… but you seem busy.”

“This will be a bit.” Gabriel said.

“Feed the boy, he doesn’t look like he eats properly!” Philippe said. “Also, we need to talk about that thing where I work as your personal bodyguard… and you promised me we would go to the zoo!”

“I only told you that to shut you up. Who calls people at three in the morning to sing about their feelings then complain about panthers?” Gabriel said getting off Philippe and letting go of his arm.

“Can we go to the zoo though?” he heard Adrien ask.

“Do you want to go?” Gabriel asked looking at the confused teenager.

“Yeah, plus, you promised we could have another day together,” Adrien said.” Can you please explain who this guy is now?”

“Of course,” Gabriel said looking down at Philippe. “This is an idiot who’s been let loose upon the citizens of Paris.”

“Hey!” Philippe yelled in protest. “That is no way to talk about your best friend! I am the greatest idiot to grace this planet with my presence. 50 euros says you’re just the biggest downer.”

“50 euros says you can’t be quiet for an hour.” Gabriel challenged.

“You’re on!” Philippe yelled.

**************** 

Maria was glad that the service was over. She looked down to her black haired niece. The little girl looked both bored and annoyed. She laughed as she watched as Theo stood between Aaron and their grandmother. He seemed like a confused deer. She figured he would be.

“ **Nina, who’s that man with Nino**?” Luciana asked pointing at them.

“ **That’s your Nino’s boyfriend**.” She said casually noting that her mother was frowning.

“ **Oh… do they kiss like mommy and daddy**?” Luciana asked.

“ **Not in public. They don’t like when people see them kiss**.”  Maria said.

“ **Ooh. Mommy and Daddy aren’t… they need to stop because it’s ikcy. They should just do quick kisses and there! Not all that weird tongue stuff**!” Luciana proclaimed with a huff.

“ **Right**?” Maria said with a laugh. She picked up the little girl and walked towards her grandmother and brothers. “What’s going on?”

“I am not sure….” Theo said with a nervous chuckle.

“I think grandma was trying to invite you to come spend time with us.” Maria said as she listened to her grandmother and her brother as they spoke. “Yep, she’s inviting you and he’s begging her not to show his embarrassing photos.”

“Ah…” He replied with a laugh. “Tell your grandma I would love to join you guys for the day if you don’t mind.”

“I will. We’re actually going to go to the zoo. Luciana has been pestering us that she wants to see monkeys.” Maria said looking to the four year old.

Theo smiled at them and then they looked to a very defeated Aaron. Maria shook her head. Her grandmother had basically pulled the “you moved to France and I don’t get to see you often, so for fuck’s sake let me shower you and your boyfriend with love before I cry” card. The crying card always worked in her favor. Maria really needed the old woman to teach her all of her tricks.

“That’s awesome. The Panther there has only been there for a year, you should see it. It’s quite amazing.” Theo said. “Me and Ron were supposed to go for our anniversary but unfortunately work.”

“I heard. How’s the new job?” She asked.

“It pays so I can’t complain.” He replied. “I actually got an email from Gabriel Agreste recently.”

“Boss emailed you?” she said in surprise.

“ **Nina, stop talking funny**!” The young girl exclaimed.

“No.” She replied with a laugh.

********************** 

Aaron sighed in defeat. He knew the battle was lost the moment he was born. His grandmother always got her way. It wasn’t that she had bad intentions; it was just that the woman held family to be very important.

“ **Grandma why**?” he whined.

“ **Because, I want you to be happy and I want to show your boyfriend how cute you were as a baby**!” She said kissing his cheek. “ **You’re my first grandson. I want the best for you.”**

*********************** 

Gabriel pinched the bridge of his nose as he, Nathalie, and Adrien stood in front of the bear enclosure. Really, how the hell did Philippe manage to leave everyone in awe at his stupidity and even more in awe of how it happened?

They been there only for ten minutes, and then Philippe disappeared, and the next thing they knew he was in the bear enclosure, challenging the bear to wrestle. Gabriel really didn’t know how easily this happened. If the bear didn’t end Philippe, he would… well not end him but he would mildly incapacitate the dumbass for a week.

“How…” He heard Adrien say.

“I don’t think any of us want to know.” Nathalie said with a sigh. “Really, that man will challenge anything.”

“You married him.” Gabriel said.

“I know,” She said and a rare smile formed. “I’m glad I did… he’s always an adventure.”

“How do you two deal with this?” Adrien asked looking at them in confusion.

“Believe or not,” Gabriel said. “But he’s the only person besides you and Nathalie I can tolerate for some strange reason. Let’s get one of the workers here and get him out before the bear decides to take up his challenge.”

“I’ll get him.” Nathalie said with a sigh.

Gabriel watched as she walked off to go get some help before looking at Philippe. The man really had never changed and, though Gabriel would never admit it, he was grateful for the years of friendship the man had willingly given him.

“How long have you know them?” Adrien asked.

“I’ve known Philippe since I was 15. We met Nathalie and your mother the year after.” He replied.

“Nathalie was close with mom?” Adrien asked. He could hear the surprise in his son’s voice.

“Nathalie is a distant relative of your mother.” Gabriel explained. “They got along well enough that they were often seen together. Me and Philippe were considered annoying because Philippe had to make bets and take dares with everyone and I was there to calculate who would win and what not.”

“hah!” Adrien said. “You were a nerd?”

“Not as much as you, but yes.” Gabriel replied.

“I’m not a nerd.” Adrien protested.

“If it helps you sleep at night.” Gabriel replied.

“So you guys are pretty close? He called me his godson? Did he baptize me?” Adrien began. Gabriel was amused that the boy could still be so inquisitive.

“Yes. He’s like an actual brother to me. He is your godfather. He and Nathalie baptized you, which is why I leave you with her often.” He said. While Nathalie had always been a naturally cold person, he knew she had a horribly soft spot for Adrien even when in her work mode.

“I see,” Adrien said. “Yikes… the bear finally attacked him.”

“We should’ve seen that coming. Philippe makes anyone want to fight him.” Gabriel said watching as Philippe put the bear into a choke hold.

“Why don’t we go explore the rest of the zoo before they arrest him?” Adrien asked.

“They can’t… For some reason, the zoo usually lets him get away with this crap.” Gabriel said with a sigh.

*************

The zoo wasn’t too bad, Aaron figured. Theo and his grandmother got along fabulously despite the language barrier. He didn’t mind translating. They had a pleasant conversation between the three of them. Maria and Luciana were of course happy to see the animals.

“ **Aaron, tell Theo to join us for dinner**!” the old woman insisted.

“Theo, grandma wants to know if you can join the family for dinner.” He said with a smile.

“I would love too! Your baby pictures sound adorable!” Theo said lacing their fingers together.

Adalina was clinging onto her husband hoping not to get lost. She was the tragic one of the twins inheriting mostly the short end of the stick when it came to her height. Her husband, Solomon, was tall so he made up for it.

He smiled as they continued to walk.

That was until a loud, “WHERE IS LUCIANA?” broke the peace. He looked and saw that Solomon and Adalina where looking around. He had seen Maria hand them the child so what the hell had happened? She was just right there. She had been talking about the lions? Where there lions? Had she gone off? Had someone snatched her?

He tried to keep his breathing even but he couldn’t. He couldn’t keep calm at all.

Now all he could do was panic as they frantically began the search for the four year old girl.

******************  

Adrien didn’t know what do when he saw the little girl. She was about four with long black hair and brown eyes wearing a simple pair of Disney overalls with a blue t-shirt under it. She was crying in a language he recognized as English. He was in quite a pickle since he didn’t speak English (that was after Spanish, which was after Mandarin) and the child obviously did not know any French. He looked to his father who was just as confused.

“Dad I can’t speak English!” He cried.

“I’ll ask what’s wrong.” He heard his father say with a sigh before he walked up to the child. Adrien watched as he spoke to the child. Soon the little girl stopped crying and began chatting animatedly with his father. He couldn’t help but feel a little jealous.

Philippe scooted next to him and said, “You know, your old man always had an easier time speaking to small children than he did to teenagers.”

“Did he now?” Adrien asked.

“Yep. When you were her age, you were such a chatterbox that it drove your mother crazy. The only person who could deal with you was your dad. Man I can’t tell you how many meetings he had you in where you annoyed the hell out of people. He loved it.” Philippe said.

“I don’t remember.” Adrien said.

“I wouldn’t expect you too. You have your mom’s bad memory about things.” Philippe said with a laugh. “But your dad loves you. Don’t worry about it.”

He watched as his dad picked up the child and walked up to them. It was weird to know that his dad had once held him the same way in his business meeting.

“So what did she say?” Adrien asked

“She said that her name is Luciana, she came here with her parents and relatives, and that she though they heard her say she was going to go see the lions.” His dad replied.

************* 

Gabriel had been surprised when the child had started speaking. She was much like Adrien when he had been little. She was shy until she had heard something familiar, then she became a small chatterbox. She had an air of familiarity to her that he couldn’t quite place. Adrien seemed to be contented with the answers, he noted.

“ **You talk funny like Nina! Nino’s boyfriend talks funny too**!” the child in his arms announced.

“ **I don’t talk funny, you just can’t speak French**.” Gabriel replied.

“ **You just talk funny. Your voice is weird! Hey do you make dresses? My Nina makes them! She once made me a Princess Jasmine dress**!” the little girl said clapping her hands excitedly. “ **Hey Mr. Gabe, do you need a wife? Because everyone says Nina needs a husband so she’ll stop being mean. But she’s not mean, she’s just sad. She needs a husband**.”

“ **What**?” Gabriel exclaimed. “ **I can make dresses and you don’t have to worry about your Nina’s marital status. You’re four. Be concerned about star wars or whatever kids like these days**.”

“ **But if Nina gets a husband, Grandma and Nana will stop telling her to come home. She likes it here so she needs a husband who speaks funny**.” The girl replied.

“Man,” He heard Philippe say with a laugh. “You got so many suitors Gabriel. Maybe we should raffle you!”

“I will end you if you try!” Gabriel snapped.

“Aaw Gabe,” Philippe said. “You know you love me.”

“It’s questionable.” Gabriel said.

“Why don’t we take the girl to security?” Adrien said.

“ **I wanna go with the pretty boy! He’s gonna be my husband**!” the little said pointing at Adrien.

“ **Go for it, but he only speaks French** ,” Gabriel said. “Adrien, Luciana wants to walk with you.”

“She does?” Adrien said looking at the little girl. He took the girl out of his arms and looked to his father slightly afraid.

“She’s four. She won’t fall unless she decides to let go.” Gabriel said. “Don’t worry. She’s very well behaved. You were the same.”

************ 

“I was?” Adrien said looking at the smiling child.

“You were.” His dad replied with a nod. “You drove your mother crazy with all your talking. I thought it was hilarious.”

“You did?” Adrien said. He was surprised his dad. “Did you like me then?”

“I always liked you son. That was just my favorite time, since you had absolutely no filter. Your nicknames for people always got a snort out of me.” His dad said with a fond smile. “You used to call Nathalie Plum for no particular reason.”

“Wow. I was a weird baby.” Adrien said as they walked towards the entrance of the Zoo. “Should we wait for Nathalie and Philippe?”

“No.” Gabriel said. “They’ve been trying to leave us for a quite a while. They need to go catch up. Plus, they both love walking along the seine at this hour.”

“Did you and mom used to do that?” Adrien asked.

“No, your mother preferred sitting in cafes and drawing.” His dad said with a fond smile. “She didn’t like talking much but she did love scheming for some strange reason. They were always half-assed and somehow they got the job done. It was probably her charming nature.”

“So your Lycee days were quite hectic.” Adrien said. He heard the child speak. “What did she say?”

“They were and she said she was hungry. Do you want a snack too?” His dad asked.

“Yeah, that would be great.” Adrien said.

*************

Maria almost wanted to scream when she saw Gabriel and Adrien Agreste standing there with the security guards while Luciana held on to both of their pants. She sighed in relief that the little girl was okay. S

“Boss?” She called.

“Miss Balboa…” He replied. “I assume this child is of relation to you?”

“She’s my goddaughter.” Maria said. “Thank you so much! My sister was about to lose her shit for real if you hadn’t shown up! I hope she wasn’t too much trouble.”

She knew she was blushing. It was hard to miss all the painful heat she felt on her face.

“It was not a problem, Miss Balboa. She was a complete angel. A bit of a chatterbox, but nothing that was too much… though she does seem to have a strange need for you to get married.” He said with a smirk.

Oh that motherfucker.

“I see. Well thank you.” She said trying to keep herself from hugging the hell out of him. Why was her first instinct to hug him when he had helped her? She didn’t need more fuel added to the fire that was her personal Gabriel Agreste hell.

“ **Maria? Who is this? Is this the guy who found Luciana…**?” She heard her sister say.

Maria nodded to the shorter black haired woman.

Adalina ran towards them and looked to Adrien. Luciana quickly bounced off him and ran into her mother’s arms. She looked to Mr. Agreste and then to Maria. Maria gave a weak smile.

“ **Does he speak English**?” Adalina asked.

“ **I do**.” Gabriel—ahem Mr. Agreste—said.

“ **Ahh! Thank you so much for finding my daughter! We don’t know how she got away!”** Adalina began. “ **I’m Adalina Balboa-De la Paz, and you seem acquainted with my sister**.”

“ **I’m Gabriel Agreste** …” He replied.

Maria wanted to scream. She could see the conspiring glint in her sister’s brown eyes. She looked to her grandmother who had a smirk on her face. She was going to go to hell with the way that they all looked at each other.

“ **Mr. Agreste**!” Her grandmother said. “ **It’s so nice to see you again**!”

“ **You as well, Mrs. Balboa**.” He replied putting his hands in pockets.

She noted he was wearing denim again. She was going to die. Why did he always have to look so fucking good? Not to mention that despite the fact that his hair was slicked back there were a few stray hairs that gave him the most pretentiously disheveled look ever. And she wanted to throw him on her bed and make it worse. Maria wanted to scream even louder. Or maybe even destroy everything in sight.

“ **Oh, you found my great-granddaughter! How can we ever repay you?”** the old woman asked walking towards him and Adrien.

“It’s fine. We’ll be leaving now.” Gabriel—Mr. fucking Agreste for fucks sake—said motioning to Adrien to move.

“ **No, no! I insist** ,” Her grandmother began. “ **Why don’t you and your son come over and stay for dinner**?”

Maria’s mind blanked. Oh fuck no. He could not go to her apartment. Then they would know who the fucking jacket belonged to. And then she would really never hear the end of it!

“ **Why don’t they stay forever**?” Luciana asked loudly enough for everyone to hear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ahahahahhah blame FullmetalPotterhead for the end.   
> Next chapter: the dinner from hell :D   
> Reviews and criticisms are always welcome


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH  
> I WANTED TO ADD MORE BUT I ALSO WANTED TO POST  
> but anyways! this chapter is one of my favorites so far despite it being a small filler.   
> also Nino/Nina are terms of endearment in spanish that are short for Madrina and Padrino and it's basically what you call your god parents.

Gabriel looked at the old woman and the child. He wanted to grab Adrien and fling him over his shoulder and run as fast as he could to the Alps. He looked to Miss Balboa and saw that she looked just as off put as him. He would probably have accepted if weren’t the small little fact that they nothing more than employer and employee… and that she probably hated his guts.

“ **I am grateful for the invitation but…** ” He began hoping that she wouldn’t call his reasoning a half ass excuse. “ **I promised my son I would spend the day with him.** ”

“ **I see.** ” the old woman said quietly frowning.

“Mr. Agreste…” He heard Miss Balboa say. “Would you please come to dinner? I fear my grandmother will be incredibly upset if you don’t. I know it doesn’t mean much to you, but I really do dislike seeing her upset.”

He knew he was going to regret looking at her. And he did. She was also upset. And the sickening emotion-filled part of his heart was already forming the answer on his lips. He looked to Adrien who was standing there confused.

“Why would your grandmother invite us to dinner?” Adrien asked.

“She wants to thank the both of you. You guys should come! My younger brothers have wanted to meet you since I mentioned you,” Miss Balboa said giving a smile. “And boss, maybe you can make a new friend.”

“One is enough, thank you.” He replied.

“ **Maria what are you saying? Are they coming**?” He heard the short brown woman ask. “ **Mom’s been texting us**.”

“Are you coming, yes or yes?” She asked this time giving them a smile.

“Uhhhhh….” Adrien said looking at him.

“I suppose it wouldn’t kill us.” Gabriel said with a nod.

“ **They’re  coming** ,” Miss Balboa said looking to the woman she mentioned was her sister. Weren’t they twins? Why was she smaller and darker? “Do you guys mind walking?”

“We don’t…or I don’t, dad?” Adrien said.

“Walking is fine.” He said.

************* 

Maria was screaming internally. She knew she would regret the minute her grandmother met Gabriel Agreste. Oh how she wished she had never put on her headphones the day before. And oh fuck…

The pecks.

The **_meaningless_** pecks.

Those would come to haunt her with one fucking Mr. Gabriel Agreste’s presence. But of course, those all outweighed the pain of seeing her grandmother upset. The old woman knew this and she had used to her advantage. She really needed to ask her to teach her how to do that.

Adrien gave her an excited smile which she returned. She figured he would get a kick out of her family. Her boss was another story. He was probably going to fire her after the dinner in any way possible. And with her track record, he could do it right then and there.

“So you mentioned me to your brothers! They’re the same ones that you mentioned on my birthday, right?” Adrien asked excitedly.

She noted that he was excited to probably hang out at a friend’s house. Her boss was still very anal about him visiting people’s house… which she comprehended. Adrien was the son of a wealthy business man who made a pretty penny and one never knew how some people could be. And perhaps she was traumatized from an incident with a neighbor’s kid near her house many years ago (the girl had been kidnapped by her own friend’s mother).

“Yes,” She said. “I was talking to them about the cookie incident….”

“Ah,” Adrien said. “They must be wary of dad then.”

“Hahaha.” Maria couldn’t help but laugh. She looked up and noted that everyone including said boss was looking at her like she was the kid from the ring.

“What?” Adrien said looking just as confused.

“My brothers were rooting for your old man.” She replied.

“Why would they be rooting for me?” She heard her boss mumble.

“They thing I’m a power hungry shithead and enjoy people who will gladly tell me otherwise.” She replied with a grin.

“You’re more of a pain in the Ass.” She heard him say.

She gave a wry smile as they continued walking.

*************** 

Luciana was glad Nana Rosa invited the tall man and his pretty son for dinner. She liked him! He made her Nina all red like Elmo! Plus he knew how to make dresses! He could teach her so she could work with her Nina Mari when she got bigger! She frowned when saw that they weren’t holding hands or talking.

How where they supposed to get married and live happily ever after? By looking the ground? Did they even have true love’s first kiss? Oh no, they were hopeless! She would have to bibbity bobbity boo them into their happily ever after.

She puffed her cheeks out and then looked to her parents who were unaware of the obvious problem they had. Nana Rosa seemed too busy with Nino and his boyfriend to care. She obviously had to take to the situation into her own hands. How else was Nina gonna marry her prince? There wasn’t a ball for another week and she didn’t like waiting for things to happen.

“Mommy I wanna sit down!” She announced.

“Eh why?” mommy asked.

“Because my feet hurts and I think Nana needs a sit too!” She replied easily.

She looked at her Nana and the old woman gave her a big grin. She was gonna be sneaky with her! Yay!

“She’s right Mija. Let me and Luciana sit for a bit.” Her nana said. She could hear her Nana and others talking. She didn’t care. What mattered was that she was going to be a fairy godmother and then get a new uncle.

“Yes, grandma.” She heard her mom, Nina, and Nino say before they walked away with her dad and Nino’s boyfriend.

She looked to Mr. Gabe who was talking to his pretty son. Adrien was his name, he mentioned at some point? Or her Nina called him that? She wasn’t too sure. First things first, she had to make sure that he thought Nina was pretty. If not then what was the point? She was only four! She didn’t have enough magic to beauty and the beast their story!

“Hey Mr.Gabe?” She called.

“Hmm?” He responded looking away from his pretty son.

“Do you think Nina Mari is pretty.” She asked. If he said no she was gonna have to ask Rudy for help and she hated asking uncle Rudy for help.

“Uh… what?” She almost let out a giggle. He was turning redder than tomatoes. “What kind of question is that?”

“A yes or no one!” She said.

“I don’t have to answer it.” She frowned when he said this.

“Why not!” She huffed.

“Because it’s strange.” He said looking to Grandma who was taking a sit.

She looked to him and thought about her next move.

“I won’t tell anyone your answer! Pleaaaaaaase tell me! If you think she’s pretty then maybe I can gets her a husband! You don’t wanna marry her right?” She said using her puppy eyes that Mommy said not even the devil could say no too.

He gave an awkward smile. He needed smiling lessons, she decided.

“If I answer you won’t tell anyone?” He asked.

“ON my life!” She said with a small hop. “Is Nina pretty?”

“Your Nina Maria is very pretty.” He said.

She smiled. Yep. They were gonna get married.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love Luciana. She is my child


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHY THE FUCK IS IT THAT WHEN I’M EXCITED FOR A CHAPTER I HAVE TO HAVE LIKE 3 CHAPTERS LEADING UP TO THE ONE PART I’M REALLY EXCITED FOR? 
> 
> Anyways please enjoy this chapter!

The walk back had been more uncomfortable than initially anticipated. Maria figured she was probably in a better position than Marinette. The girl had admitted to her once that her crush on Adrien kind of went overboard at one point. She stilled laughed at the memory of the girl explaining that she had almost broken her arm trying to hide everything for the sake of the boy never knowing about her crush.

She of course had a few magazine covers with her boss’s face on it but there was a bit of an issue with that. She had drawn devil horns and goatee on him. Well it wasn’t like she was letting anyone into her room. So her immature shenanigans where safe along with her Jimmy Choos and her Cinderella memorabilia collection.

She looked to Adrien who was currently Luciana’s favorite victim for shenanigans and suppressed a giggle. Somehow the child managed to have wrapped both Agreste boys around her little finger. She would speak to Mr. Agreste who in turn would translate her words to Adrien and then vice versa. She looked to Adalina would was just as amused.

“Mija,” She heard her grandmother call.

“Yes grandma?” She said.

“When we get inside, I need you to take the boys and go buy a few more things for the meal. Also take the cute blond boy. You said you wanted to talk right?” Her grandmother said.

Maria almost wanted to scream. She knew that was code for ‘family interrogation’ and she had no choice but to agree. She wasn’t about the fight the real head of the family.

“Of course grandma…,” She said. Then it occurred to her. “But, I think that Mr. Agreste would prefer to keep his son close by. You know that Paris can be very dangerous.”

The old woman squinted her eyes and began to search her face. Maria smiled kindly and kept the façade of being perfectly calm. She wanted to scream. She knew her grandmother was looking for any reason to call her out on her bullshit. She was just hoping that her face wasn’t red.

“You’re right. Ask them right away.” She said smiling sweetly. God Maria wanted to steal a car and drive to Switzerland or something just to escape that challenging smile.

Maria gave another smile before turning to look at the father-son pair who were currently at the mercy of her four year old niece.

“ **Hey nerds**!” She called to them.

“ **Again with the name calling Miss Balboa**?” She heard her boss mutter.  She gave a wry smile.

“ **Yeah Maria**?” Adrien said.

“ **Do you two mind coming with me and three of my heathens to go get some stuff for salsas**?” She said with a laugh.

“ **I guess**.” She heard Adrien say.

“ **I suppose it’ll be no trouble**.” She heard her boss say

“ **Great! We just gotta get the heathens**.”  She said with a sigh.

****** 

Maria’s eyes widened when they got to her apartment. She knew they were having a family dinner… she just didn’t realize it meant the entirety of the Balboa-Delgado clan that was currently in Paris. She saw about three of her mother’s siblings (she had 12) and all three of her dad’s younger siblings and two of her grandfather on her mother side’s siblings and over 20 of her cousins mixed with her three brothers, her two grandfathers, and her parents. They were all looking at her… or more specifically the two men that were standing awkwardly behind.

“Jesus, Mari. I knew you weren’t sure about having kids but getting a guy who has one already?”  She heard her Cousin Carlos saying between his giggles.

“Fuck off, Carl!” She snapped. “He’s my boss.”

“Then why the hell is he here?” her cousin Luz-Maria asked.

“Grandma invited him. Fight her on it,” Maria said with a frown. She looked to her brothers. “Heathens, you’re coming with us to the store.”

The three teenaged boys on the floor all gave her varying looks going from anger to exasperation to indifference.

“What’s in it for us?” the youngest of the three boys asked. She frowned.

“Ezekiel, I’m not playing this game. You want to fight, take it up with grandma!” she snapped. She felt like hitting someone. She was in no mood to deal with anything.

“Hey is that the blondie you said we would like hanging with?” Manolo asked.

“Yes. Now hurry up.” She whined bouncing up and down a bit.

*********** 

Adrien felt uncomfortable and was beginning to understand why his father steered away from social interaction. He hadn’t understood what Maria said but he could tell she was really angry. He noted—from the cookie incident that still haunted everyone’s mind—that she tended to move her shoulders back when became livid. He almost felt bad for the man except that he noted the man was purposely provoking her.

He looked to the three boys on the floor with their consoles. He had a hard time believing they were related. The oldest boy looked a bit like Aaron, he had tanned skin and squared jaw but there was the where the similarity ended. The boy had darker brown hair and hazel eyes that had scrutiny written inside them. The next boy was incredibly—for lack of a better word—white. He had blue eyes but they were kind of dulled and somewhat brown hair. He gave him a cheeky grin before hitting the youngest. The boy was about his age and was a weird mix of the two others boys with light skin but brown hair and hazel eyes.

“Hey, blondie.” He heard the oldest boy say.

“Arturo, the kid has a name. You can talk to him after you get up.” He heard Maria say.

She switched to Spanish and he could vaguely make out a few words but other than that he was pretty clueless about what the hell was going on. The three boys got up and then walked towards them. Maria turned to him and his dad and motioned for them to move. He looked to his dad who shrugged and walked out. He followed him quickly.

He heard the three boys conversing and looked to Maria. She seemed less tense so that was good. But he was worried.

“Is it really okay for us to come?” He asked.

“It’s fine. I just come from two long lines of assholes and frankly the fact that both sides are here are stressing me out because I forgot to lock my room,” She said with a sigh. “If were just the immediate family it would be fine but this is a bit awkward.”

“Your brothers seem to be plotting something,” He noted looking at the three. “I’m gonna go talk to Dad.”

“Have fun.” She replied.

Adrien gave a smile before walking to his father.

“This was a mistake.” He heard him mumble. Adrien raised an eyebrow. He noted that his father looked even more clammy and tense than usual. He knew his father could pass it off as arrogance but for some reason he wasn’t doing that… which made him suspicious about the acceptance of the invitation.

“Really now?” He asked casually.

“I know what you’re thinking, boy.” His father said.

“Aaaw I won’t say anything here, but when we get home, that’s a different story.” Adrien teased.

******* 

Gabriel gave a grimace as Adrien began to tease him. He should’ve known the boy would figure out something at this point. He was quite perceptive when he wasn’t over the moon. He knew the boy had quite crush on the city’s heroine. Why, he had no idea. But he also knew that the boy had a liking to Miss Marinette. He refrained from mentioning that to taunt back at his son, knowing that his grand scheme to set the two up would be compromised.

 He took a quick glance at Miss Balboa and noted that she looked stressed. He figured keeping silent would be the best option the awkward situation. He looked to Adrien who looked both confused and amused and then to the three boys who were obviously scheming something—he noted that the people of the Balboa family had a strange of wiggling their index finger and their middle finger when scheming which he learned after observing the elder two in their antics.

“Mr. Agreste?” He heard Miss Balboa.

“Yes, Miss Balboa.” He replied looking at her.

She gave a pained smile and said, “I hope that you don’t mind how abrasive my family is. They just love going with the flow and adding more people into the mix. They’re just generally excited socializing.”

“I will take note of that.” He replied.

*************** 

Arturo Jesus Balboa liked to think he was generally aware of things. He knew his sister had a crush on her boss… and in his opinion it wasn’t unexpected. She had been gushing about the bastard since she met him. He didn’t really see the problem. The guy was a bit of an asshole, so? They were an entire family of assholes. What was one more?

He observed them with his two younger brothers.

“He’ll fit in just fine if he loosens up a bit.” He heard Manolo say about the blond boy.

Arturo observed the blond boy. He was quite interesting. He always knew his sister to be someone who usually veered away from all personal contact with fellow employees and generally cold to people. But that blondie was a different story. Maria seemed to very involved in their personal lives, which was, in his opinion, weird.

He also noted that his sister was quite nurturing towards the blondie which was hilarious since normally she was as nurturing as Satan’s ass-crack. He looked to his brothers and then to the sister in question.

“We will take the blond boy under our wing as a sign of approval of that asshole.” He said quietly with a smirk.

“You think they’ll fight?” Zeke asked.

“We will see. For now, I will be the translator for el guerrito,” Arturo said. “Let us begin!”

************* 

Adrien watched as the three boys walked to him. The oldest slung his arm around him and grinned.

“Sup blondie,” He said in nearly perfect French. “I’m Arturo, the short tan one is Zeke, and your fellow white boy is Manny. They don’t parlez francais so I will be interpreter. Your dad can chill with Satan.”

“Call me Satan again.” Adrien heard Maria say.

“Bite me Mari.” He heard Arturo say. “Or do you wanna bite hot stuff’s dad over there?”

“I have six pairs of sandals in my bag. Keep talking.” Maria snapped.

“Ugh ruin our fun.” Arturo sighed.

************ 

The trip to the nearby market had been rather quiet. Maria was glad for it. She was even gladder Mr. Agreste had made no comment on what her brother had said earlier. She looked to the four boys who had settled into an easy conversation despite the small language barrier.

“Your brothers don’t mind having the older one translate?” She heard her boss ask. He had been the one who had been stuck carrying all the heavy stuff. He had made no complaints so she figured he didn’t mind.

“It’s normal in our family.” She said.

“It is?” He asked.

“Yeah. Some of my cousins can speak very limited Spanish and some very limited English. Those of us who can speak both fairly well usually translate. Arturo is fluent in French, English, Spanish, and Arabic so it’s not too hard for him.” She explained.

“I see,” He said. “They seem to like him well enough.”

“They like anyone who gives them sick ass suggestions on video games. As far as they’re concerned, he’s one of them.” She said with a laugh.

“Well at least he’ll have fun.” She heard him mumble.

“I think you’ll get along with my Dad and grandpas. They’re a bit rowdy but they are amusing. Be warned, Abuelito Emmanuel has a dirty sense of humor. He’ll probably have you as his victim. Don’t think too much of it. He’s just like that. Grandpa Jose always has a story. Just nod and pretend to listen. Dad’s a real car buff. If you know even a few things about the ways of vehicles he will take to you instantly.” She said.

“And the women?” He asked. She noted he was slightly amused. He always quirked the right side of his lips when he was amused.

“Mom will scrutinize you until she has a good feel for you. Odds are she hates you already,” Maria began. “Grandma on the other hand is a mystery. No one has figured out her judgment system yet, not even Grandpa Jose and they’ve been married for forty-five years. Grandpa Emmanuel is a widow, before you ask.”

“I see. They sound like quite a pair.” He said.

“They are. Adalina’s previous boyfriend didn’t last the night after having a meal with us. Solomon on the other hand, everyone loved him instantly. He was a good guy for Ada and he’s a great father for Luci.” Maria said smiling.

********** 

“I assume you took well to him?” Gabriel found himself asking. Gabriel didn’t know why he had started the conversation but he was glad he did. The silence had finally started to grate his nerves.

“Oh yeah. I started treating him like I treat my brothers.” Miss Balboa said with a laugh.

“So you threaten him with sandals then?” He teased.

“Oh quite often,” She replied. “You know… if you want, for today you can call me Maria.”

“If you insist.” He said. “I suppose you can call me Gabriel.”

“Nah. Boss is fine. If I call you Gabriel too much people might assume we’re friends and we don’t want that.” She said with a snort.

“Oh that would be a tragedy.” He replied looking to his son who was currently laughing along with Miss—ahem—Maria’s brothers. They seemed to all get along splendidly. He was glad though he would not say it.

“Well, I mean in a strange, convoluted, unreasonable way we are friends but people don’t need to know that.” She said.

“I suppose we unfortunately are friends.” He mused.

“I wonder when the hell that happened.” She said brushing back a bit of hair from her face. Her hair had a small natural wave he noted.

“Probably after that one time at the markets,” He said. “Since then we’ve spent a lot of time in each other’s presence personally.”

“That seems about right.” Maria mumbled. It was too easy to slip into the informalities with her and that was annoying him.

“We’re back.” She said with a sigh.

“Well it could be worse.” He said.

“How?” She asked giving him a glare.

“You could be introducing a boyfriend.” He said with a shrug.

“Yeah… that is worse.” She said.

**************

Adrien looked to Arturo who was looking back at Maria and his dad.

“Are they always that blatantly obvious?” Arturo asked with a smirk.

“You should see them when they fight.” Adrien said with a snort. “It’s so much worse.”

“I heard they had a nasty one because she offered you a cookie.” Arturo said.

“Yeah. She called my dad a shit-head with no knowledge of how to parent and told him that his hair made the back of his head look like a duck’s ass… and then my dad told her she was a no good busy body who dressed like the whore of Babylon.” Adrien said.

“Aaaw how romantic.” Arturo said with a snicker.

“It gets better,” Adrien said. “Maria called Dad a walking fashion disaster and said it was a shock that he was even considered a fashion icon since he looked like a slutty candy cane most of the time and eventually it went to a weird name calling match that was stopped by an akuma attack.”

“Holy shit… give me a second to tell Zeke and Manny.” Arturo said between giggles.

Adrien nodded as he took a quick second to look back at his dad and Maria. They seemed calm and surprisingly at ease. He smiled glad that his dad didn’t seem so tense. Maria seemed less stress too. He looked to the other boys who were giggling loudly before giving him a thumb up.

His smile grew wilder as they all began to recount strange tales through Arturo of growing up with the older Balboa siblings.

As they came to the elevator he noted that none of the brothers seemed bothered at all by how close Maria and his dad were. He wondered if they would be up for his plan to set the two up in the long run.

Adrien watched as Maria pressed the button to go the top floor. He was still surprised at the fact that Maria had such a huge apartment. It was larger than his room and had several other rooms.

******** 

Maria sighed as she opened the door. She was surprised to see that all of her family was in their usual clicks with her older brother and his boyfriend sitting with her uncles, grandfathers, and father at her table.

“Rosa! Maria is here with the stuff!” she heard her Grandpa yell at her grandmother.

Her grandmother walked out of the kitchen and motioned for them to follow her. She felt her stiffen with each step. She could hear her mother’s loud voice in there telling a dirty joke to the rest of her aunts who were cooking too.

She walked in with all five of the boys behind her and felt herself stop when she saw her mother. Her dark brown eyes where focused completely on the man behind her. She knew it. Her mother would have no mercy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I have a new posting schedule that I think will work better for me!   
> I will be alternating update this and Twelve Strokes to Midnight every Sunday. so Expect one or other on Sundays.  
> ALSO I WAS REALLY EXCITED BECAUSE MY DOG HAD PUPPIES AND I WATCHED THE NEW EPISODES AND I AM NOT OKAY


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well this chapter was 7500 words exactly. 
> 
> It was also not as bad as I thought it would be

Gabriel felt chills go down his spine as he looked at the small brown woman. The first thing he noted was that while Maria’s eyes were blue compared to her mother’s, the woman’s brown eyes held a fury similar to her own… although the mother seemed like she could probably get away with his murder.

“Is this the Famous Gabriel Agreste that you’ve mentioned so much on the phone and his son?” she asked sweetly.

He hoped his will made sure that Adrien was well taken care of. Well, Philippe and Nathalie were decent enough to care for Adrien for two more years and if he was lucky Adrien would marry Marinette straight out of lycee and she could ensure that his business was secure.

“Yes….” Maria said. He could practically feel her trembling. She was probably just as afraid as he was or even more so.

“You forgot to mention how handsome they were, Mija!” the woman said looking at him with a sweet smile that most certainly held the promise of death. What was with the women in this family and having a murderous aura?

“Ahaha… I didn’t notice?” he heard Maria reply. He didn’t know her voice could go that high… And he hoped that thought didn’t cause anymore issues with his sleeping schedule.

“Well they’re handsome… and too skinny. Ay it’s a good thing your Abuelita brought them here,” the slightly older woman said. She smiled and stuck out her hand. “I’m Suzanna Delgado.”

“Gabriel Agreste.” He replied automatically shaking her hand.

She gave a smile that seemed almost similar to the cat like grin her son had.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, though a bit unexpected.” She said.

“Likewise…” He replied.

“Does your son speak English or Spanish?” she asked looking at Adrien.

“He doesn’t, I’m afraid. My son only speaks French and Mandarin.” He replied, though the real question was why they hadn’t let go of each other’s hands.

The woman smiled and let go which he was grateful for. He was pretty sure that his hand was sweaty.  

“Oh well, Maria, have Arturo translate for him. Set the things on the counter and then have Mr. Agreste sit with your father and grandfathers. Your uncles will be with them shortly. Do you want anything to drink? We have alcohol, water, soda.” She said.

“I’m fine…” He said.

“ **Uuuh dad, what did she say**?” he heard Adrien ask.

“ **She asked if we wanted something to drink and said that the brother would be translating for you**.” He explained.

“ **I’m fine**.” He mumbled.

Gabriel gave a small nod and looked back to the woman.

“Does you son want something?” she asked.

“He’s fine.” He replied.

“Are you sure?” She insisted.

“Mom….” Maria said.

************   

Suzanna looked to her sister-in-laws who were gossiping amongst each other. The man did not give off the usual warning-signs and for lack of a better word seemed horribly awkward. She looked to her mother-in-law who already had an approving smile.

She sighed. If the old woman already liked him then that meant he was most certainly here to stay. After all, the old woman had better judgment than everyone else in the house.   
************

Maria sighed as they walked out of the kitchen. She looked to the table and almost wanted to scream. She felt like a banshee honestly. Her father was staring up at her with a knowing smile that meant he was probably going to pull out baby pictures.

She looked to her boss who seemed a bit clammier than was expected. She gave him a reassuring smile and said, “Don’t worry; they’re not as vicious as mom and grandma.”

“No offense, but your mom and grandma look like they could take the entire army of France with both their hands tied begin their back.” Adrien said.

“They probably could.” Maria said with a snort.

“ **Maria, is that your boss**?” She heard her father ask.

“ **Yes, Dad, this is him**.” She said with a sigh.

“ **Good, go get us some shots. The poor bastard looks like he just went through a screening process, though with your mother and your grandmother it might as well be**.” He said with a laugh.

“Boss, why don’t you take a seat?” She said pulling out a chair for him.

“I uh… think I’ll stand.” He replied shifting his weight from his right foot to his left.

“Please sit, they’ll think you’re rude.”  She said with a sigh.

“If you insist,” He mumbled sitting down. “Thank you.”

“ ** _Don’t switch to French, cabrona. We don’t like when you hide shit_**.” Her dad said.

“ **I don’t like it when you boss me around in my house**.” She replied.

“ **Haha, talk shit to me when you’re out of student debt**.” He said leaning back glaring at her with a cocky smirk.

“ **I haven’t owed anything since May, Daddy Dearest** ,” She replied smiling sweetly placing her hands on her boss’, ahem, Gabriel’s shoiulder. “ **You should ask this bastard how much he’s been paying me. I’m sure you’ll find it’s more than enough**.”

“ **Frankly, I’m surprised he hasn’t said anything about being called a bastard**.” Her dad said changing the subject.

“ **I’ve called him worse to his face** ,” She said. To her surprise Gabriel let out a snort. Adrien looked at her confused and she smiled. “My dad asked why your dad didn’t seem affected by the fact that he was referred to as bastard several times and I explained that I’ve called your father worse to his face.”

“Worse is a nice understatement.” Adrien said with a laugh.

“ **Well, Daddy Dearest, don’t break him, I still need him to sign my paychecks, and I have to give the heathens the boy to entertain**.” She said giving Gabriel a pat on his shoulders before taking Adrien by the arm and leading the boy away.

************** 

Gabriel looked awkwardly at the three men who were staring at him. His eyes darted to the man he knew to be Maria’s father. The man had that same lazy smile that Maria had when she was in no mood for mischief. He was green eyed and dark skinned with short and neat black hair, and he had the build of a man who had been working in manual labor his whole life.

“So you’re Gabriel Agreste.” The man said.

“And I assume you are Mr. Balboa.” He replied unsure of what else to say. 

“My name’s Aaron Jose Balboa the third. The man with the receding hairline and my dashing jaw-line is my father, Aaron Jose Balboa the second, and the devilishly handsome stud to his left is my father-in-law Emmanuel Delgado. It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Mr. Aaron Jose Balboa the third said. “You can call me AJ, my dad Jose, and stud-muffin over there Manny.”

“I see.” He said.

“ **Mind if we call you Gabe**?”  Mr. Emmanuel Delgado asked.

“ **That’s fine**.”  Gabriel replied.

“So you can switch between three languages, sweet. How many more do you know? Arturo knows about four or five. Aaron knows four, and Maria takes the cake with seven languages.” AJ said (he really had no choice in the naming matter. Who knew that there would be three generations of men with the same name under one roof)?

“I speak about six or seven.” He replied.

“Nice. Which ones.” The man insisted. He was quite surprised he was even being conversed with, because really, he had felt an almost hostile atmosphere as soon as he had entered. It seemed to have left but there was still an amount of discomfort he could not help but feel.

“French, English, Spanish, Dutch, Mandarin, Arabic and a bit of German,” he said bringing his hand to his neck to scratch it.

“Not bad,” the man mused with a smile. “You know, my little girl is very headstrong about her ideals. She’s quite smart.”

“I am quite aware of that.” He replied.

“So you’ve read her essay? I didn’t really because reading is fucking annoying.” AJ said.

“I read it.” He replied curtly. He was surprised at how easily these people could curse but given the fact that Maria and her brother cursed like it was no big deal, why it still surprised him was a mystery.

“I applaud you. That was fifty pages of work.” Her father said.

“It was 182.” He corrected quietly.

“Holy shit really?” her father said looking at him with both impressed and horrified eyes. “And you read it all?”

“Yes.” He replied. He had probably read that essay three four times—not that anyone needed to know that—and he could say without a doubt the girl could’ve been a writer if she felt like it.

“She could’ve been a writer. She wanted to be one for a while too,” The man explained. “Frankly, the fact that she’s gone this far in the fashion scene is impressive. I’m quite proud. I still remember that she cried every time she had to use a machine when she first started. It freaked her out more than driving.”

A snort escaped his lips as the man spoke. He had a hard time believe that the ever confident Maria “I will make you the greatest freakin’ ball gown in three hours” Balboa was once afraid of sewing machines.

“It’s hard to believe now even for me. Give her fabric and she’s a happy little monkey off in lala land sewing dresses.” AJ said.

“Remember when she came home crying because she had to stare a penis for two hours?” He heard her balding grandfather say.

The three men began laughing and he felt awkward as they did.

“Man,” AJ began. “That one was a funny one. She had to take figure drawing at one of her old schools and then on the first night she had to draw a naked man and it was hilarious because despite the fact that she acts like a hot shit when it comes to sex and stuff she’s more innocent than a nun.”

“She cried the whole class?” he asked.

“Oh no, she managed to keep a straight face. She cried the whole car ride home saying she never wanted to see another penis again.” AJ said with a snort.

“You got a kid, right?” He heard her other grandfather say.

“Yes, my son, Adrien.” He replied.

“He’s a cute kid. He gets his looks from his mother I’m assuming.” AJ said.

“His looks and his personality come from his mother.” He replied.

“Not bad,” AJ said. “Maria; bring us our shots already!”

Gabriel looked to Maria who was chatting with Adrien happily. She looked over to them stuck her tongue and blew a raspberry at them before looking back to Adrien.

************* 

Maria smiled as she explained to Adrien that the boys rough-housing was their way of showing affection. He had been a bit off put when he saw them get into fighting stances.

“ **So this is just how they play…”** He repeated.

“ **Of course! I gotta go get the men drinks. If you get freaked out, I’ll find something safer for you to do, okay**?” She said patting his cheek.

“Okay.” He replied with a nervous smile before taking a seat next to Zeke.

She smiled and walked to the kitchen. Her mother and aunts were bustling around making sure all the food for the evening was perfect. Heck, even her Tia Marcia was helping. She just prayed the woman hadn’t been the one to cook the rice. The woman was terrible at it.

“Mom, where did you put the shot glasses? Dad, Grandpa Manny, and Feo want shots for them and Boss.” She said.

“Why do you still call him boss?” her aunt Soccoro asked. “Did you say you were gonna marry him?”

“Ahahaha, that was twenty years ago. I’ve developed a taste since then.” She replied.

“They’re over here and the tequila is on top of the fridge!” Her mother said.

“Thanks, mom.” She said walking to grab the small glasses from above her Tia Zulema’s head. She grabbed the bottle of alcohol from the top of the fridge and strutted back to the dining table.

She slowed down and listened as her father and her boss where in a heated debate with her grandfathers about the proper way to discipline a child. She almost wanted to laugh when she heard her boss say that all their methods where horrible. She laughed considering that his form of discipline was by forcing the kid to do manual labor for long periods of time (Adrien had gotten in trouble for ditching class quite a few times apparently which made Gabriel assign him several jobs and two full days of being the employee pack mule for that).

“Well isn’t this cute.” She said with a giggle.

“Oh shush.” Her father said. “Serve us and go back to the kitchen.”

“Excuse you.”  She said raising an eyebrow.

“Your mom wants you to make some salsa to go with the carnitas in case no one wants birria!” the old man said holding his hands up.

“Fine, let me serve you your shots and then I’ll be off to help the ladies cook.” She said with a roll of her eyes.

“Enjoy them, they’re all light weights.” She said to her boss.

“Keep talking out of your ass Maria.” Her dad said.

“I can handle my alcohol. You babies can barely handle a bottle. It takes at least a full bottle to get me slightly buzzed.” She said with a cocky grin.

“With your personality you don’t need alcohol.” She heard her boss mutter.

“Rude.” She huffed.

“He’s not lying though.” Grandpa Jose said. “You don’t need alcohol at all to be a loud pain in the ass.”

“And you don’t need alcohol to be an ugly baldy.” She replied.

“Hey, I still married your grandma and you have my genes.” He said motioning for her to hand him the bottle and the cups.

“I’m still trying to figure out how that happened; grandma is way out of your league.” She replied.

“Singing on a donkey is the best way to seduce a woman, or does French-fry here have a better idea.” Her grandfather taunted.

“France is the country of love,” Gabriel said. “But I think that you’ve asked the wrong person. Romance is not my forte. I think it’s romantic to sit in silence and do work.”

“Hahaha,” She heard her grandpa Manny go. “I like this guy. Maria, you should invite your boss more often. He’s all sorts of awkward.”

“I’ll see to it, Abuelito.” She said with a laugh.

“I get no say in this?” Gabriel asked.

“None whatsoever, they like you too much.” She replied handing him a glass. “Drink up.”

**********************  

Luciana watched as her uncles played with Adrien and her Nino and his boyfriend—whose name was Theo apparently—talk and play video games. She huffed and looked at the brown-haired boy in front of her. Sadly, Rudy was the only other cinnamon roll—that’s what Nina called them—there, so they were stuck playing together. He sucked at playing Barbie’s and he didn’t like Mr. Gabe!

She glared at the dumb blue eye boy and then looked to Mr. Gabe who was looking at Nina the way that Flynn looked at Rapunzel. She wanted to squeal at how cute they were! What was that word that her Nina used? Oh Tree Pees? Something like that whatever it was.

She looked back to the six year old and glared at him again. He glared back like the butthead he was. She did not like Rudy. She didn’t care if he was her uncle. He was a butt.

“I don’t like him. He’s a big butthead.” Rudy said.

“He’s a prince!” She exclaimed. “You’re the butthead!”

“Luciana, don’t be calling Rudy names.” She heard Tio Arty say.

“Aaaw but he’s being mean about Mr. Gabe!” she whined. “Tell Adrien that I want him to be my cousin!”

“Didn’t you say you wanted him to be your husband an hour ago?” she heard Tio Zeke say.

“Yeah but mom says you can’t marry your cousin and if Mr. Gabe marries Nina, I can’t marry him so I want him to know that I want him as my cousin, duh.” She said. Really were all boys this stupid?

Zeke laughed and then said something Artie who then said something in that funny talk that Mr. Gabe and Theo used to Adrien and then looked to her.

“He said that you can’t be his cousin until you get them to kiss.”  Artie said with a stupid smile on his stupid face.

“I can get them to kiss.” She said with a huff.

“Good luck with that.” She heard Rudy mutter from the side.

“I can! I bet all my cookies on it!” She said puffing out her cheeks.

Artie laughed and said something to Adrien who then said something back. She frowned watching them talk. They didn’t she could do it! She was a professional at this! How did they think all her Barbie’s got together? They were all too stubborn and shy and she had to bibbidy-bobbidy-boo them together.

“He says he doesn’t believe you can do it but he’ll take the bet.” Artie said with a laugh.

“If I do it he has to get me some princess dresses for my Barbie’s.” she said with a frown.

The boy gave her a smirk and stuck her tongue out at him. He was as dumb as the rest of them. Boys were stupid and she was not going to deal with it. She grabbed her dolls and then gave a death glare to Rudy before going to set up for her master plan

They would see. They would all see. And she would have some pretty new dresses for her Barbie dolls.

*************

Adrien snorted as he watched Luciana practically hop away in anger. She looked like a demented rabbit with how she moved. He looked back to the guys who were just as amused.

“Honestly, kids are hilarious.” Arturo said.

“They are. Man, it’s like taking candies from a baby.” He said with a snort.

“Pffft! That pun was perfect.” Arturo said. “So you wanna play Minecraft? Or Mario Bros?”

“Anything is good, to be honest. I just want to play videogames!” Adrien said.

*********** 

Gabriel found himself highly amused by the three men. From what he learned, Jose, the balding one, was part of the landscaping business and co-owned property with his youngest brother. Manny, on the other hand, had his own real-estate business that he recently began seeing as he got bored of being retired after a month. AJ just recently began his own business that mixed the both of those together. And the three were apparently business partners who let Maria’s twin handle all the finances.

“So you do anything besides the fashion?” AJ asked.

“I have few side-ventures but nothing amazing.” He replied with a shrug taking a small sip of his drink.

“Not bad,” AJ said then smirked. “Wanna see something hilarious?”

“Eh… why not?” He replied with a shrug.

The man smirked and took out his phone. He lifted the phone to his face and Gabriel nearly choked on his spit trying to hold back his laugh. It was a picture of a teenaged Maria with cake stuck all over her face and a shirt that was far too big for her and some of her hair on the floor and murder in her eyes.

“Man that was a great Halloween.” AJ said.

“What was she supposed to be?” He asked.

“A murderous cake-maker.” Maria’s father replied with a laugh.

Gabriel pulled out his phone and said, “I have something similar with my son. He had a strange obsession with planes when he was little.”

He watched as the man laughed at a very disgruntled five year old Adrien crying because he had finally seen an airplane and couldn’t get on. Honestly how he managed to keep his composer that day was a miracle. Adrien was just a mess of emotions and even Clarisse hadn’t been able to keep up with him.

“Man that kid seems so calm now.” AJ commented.

“He’s still struggling to adjust…” He muttered.

“Aaah… right. So anyways, what are your side ventures?” AJ asked.

“They’re just a few real estate investments, actually. I have them in Spain under the eye of a colleague.” He said.

“Not bad.” AJ said.

“Grandpa!” Both men looked down surprised to see Luciana tugging on AJ’s shirt.

“What is it, Monkey?” AJ  said while he picked her up and sat her on his lap.

“Can I sit with you, my tatas (grandfathers), and Mr. Gabe?” she asked looking up at him sadly.

“Sure but why? It’s just stinky old men talking about old men stuff.” AJ said.

“Boys are stupid and Rudy doesn’t know how to play barbies,” She huffed crossing her arms. “The only perfect man in this world is Steve Rodgers!”

“Jesus, what is your mom teaching you?” AJ asked with a laugh.

“The lords work.” She said with a serious face. Gabriel faked a couch to try and hide his laughter.

“Your mother is an atheist. “ AJ mumbled looking at him with an amused look.

“Well, she certainly takes after the women of the family…” Gabriel said.

“Oh man, seriously. They could be a vicious gang if they wanted to be.” AJ said.

“Your mother was a chola for a while.” Jose said with a nod as he served himself another drink.

“Sure dad.” AJ said with a roll of his eyes.  
********** 

“Grandpa! Ask nina if she can get me juice!” Luciana said pulling on her grandpa’s beard. She watched as he laughed.

“Fine.” He said before yelling for Nina to get her some juice.

She sat watched as her Nina poked her head out of the kitchen. Grandpa said something mean to her and then Nina went back into the kitchen. She looked at her work on the floor then to Mr. Gabe. If her plan was gonna work he had to look back.

She kept trying to act as suspicious as possible because mommy said that was how you tricked people into looking. You had to look first. He was stubborn but she was the greatest fairy godmother ever! And she was going to get those new princess dresses and make those dumb boys cry.

Her Nina was walking towards them.

5….

He looked back.

4…

3….

2…

1…

“AAAh!”

***********

Gabriel wasn’t sure what was going on. He had looked back because he noted the child had kept averting her gaze to something behind him. Then the shriek had come. He saw blue eyes.

And his mouth felt warm.

*********

Maria hadn’t realized there was anything there and yet somehow she tripped. Her eyes met Gabriel’s. She didn’t know how it happened.

And her mouth felt warm.

******* 

AJ jumped back as he watched his daughter trip on her own two feet on to her boss causing them both to land on the table. He snorted when saw the horror on their faces as they realized that they had kissed.

“Man, at least give me a goat or two before you two get frisky.” He teased as both of them looked at him with wide eyes and red cheeks.

“Dad!” Maria squeaked.

“I… I didn’t.. what?” the man managed to say. AJ laughed.

“Maria go get changed. Agreste, I got a shirt that might fit you.” He said getting up and setting down his granddaughter on the chair. He noted that the child looked incredibly. He figured whatever future grandchildren he would get after this would probably get a kick out Luciana’s antics.

He actually felt quite bad for them. He figured that they probably were hoping for that sort of action to be more private and you know more romantic.

****** 

Maria quickly pushed herself off and dashed off to her room slamming the door. She leaned against it and covered her mouth. She felt herself ready to explode into sobs. That was not how she wanted her first kiss ever to go. She wanted to be romantic and with someone who loved her.

Not an unrequited love. Not a stupid crush on a man who probably didn’t even look at her like that.

But she couldn’t help but think of the jolt of electricity that had passed her body in the moment their lips met. For a moment she felt like she was so warm. It was that feeling of being a perfect warm shower. Every inch of her was covered in whatever she had felt in that moment.

She recalled the look of terror on his face. He probably was horrified at the fact that she was even near him. He probably hated her even more now. Oh god.

Her mind was a mess and she was covered in juice and she couldn’t help but let a small tear come out. She quickly walked to her drawer and pulled out a pair of black skinny jeans (she owned like seven or eight of them), a simple white tank top, and a blue plaid button up.

She quickly walked into her personal bathroom and began to wash her face. She put some eye drops in her eyes to clear the redness and added a bit of make up so no one could tell that she may have been a bit more upset than was necessary. She pulled her hair into a sloppy bun and quickly changed.

She took a few deep breaths to try and calm herself down.

***** 

Gabriel was trying to calm himself down as AJ practically forced him into one of the other rooms.

“Okay I got a shirt that will fit you if you don’t mind V-necks. Hate those shits but Suzy insists on buying them. They might fit you though.” The man said grabbing a luggage bag.

He threw a black v-neck shirt at him and said, “Get dressed and don’t bother taking your dirty shirt out.”

Gabriel gave a nod watched as the man left before changing his shirt quickly. He sat on the bed and began to try and collect his thoughts. He took a deep breath as he tried to calm himself as his mind quickly went to that sad excuse of a kiss.

If he had ever planned to kiss her (which he may have been thinking about the night before) it would most certainly in circumstances that no one could have seen them. He wanted to kiss her because they loved each other.

Not because she tripped on accident.

She thought of him as friend. At least he hoped she still did. He took a deep breath. He was a grown man for Christ’s sake. He shouldn’t have been fretting over a woman… but of course she wasn’t just any woman and he knew that. She was a smart and amazing woman who was simultaneously the biggest pain in the ass ever born.  She somehow was someone that he just could not deny anything for no matter what it was.

He took another deep breath before getting up and making his way outside.

************* 

It took Adrien a full ten minutes to process what had happened and another 10 to process the fact that he had lost a bet to four year old. Arturo, Ezekiel, and Manolo seemed just as shocked as he was. The three murmured to each other and then Arturo looked to him.

“You’re fucked bruh.” He said with a shake of his head.

“She’s the devil.” Adrien replied.

“Dude, we know. We’ve known her since she was born.” Arturo mumbled still trying to process it.

Adrien could not believe that a child managed to accomplish what he had been trying to do for months in a matter of minutes. He looked to the little girl and she gave him a smug smile. Yep. She was all sorts of evil and if everything came into place that evil demon monkey was going to be his cousin.

He was actually quite terrified at the prospect of being related to the child now.

************ 

Rosario leaned on the door frame watching the man. He looked very horrified, very worried, and very confused. It was obvious he was uncomfortable and trying very hard to hide it. She noted that he kept glancing to her granddaughter’s bedroom.

She looked to her granddaughter who walked out and shook her head.

“Maria! Go change!” She called looking at the girl’s outfit.

Maria looked around before looking down and then back up.

“Why? I think I look fine.” Maria said looking like a chicken about to be beheaded.

“Maria today is a nice family dinner. Go put on a nice dress. I am not having you in jeans.”  Rosario said. “Suzanna, come and help your daughter. I will tend to the beans!”

Suzanna walked out of the kitchen and took a look at the girl.

“Maria, listen to your grandmother and change your outfit.”  Suzanna said with a sigh.

********** 

Suzanna looked at her daughter and shook her head. How was she supposed to win the man’s heart if she was gonna dress like she did when she was in high school? Really? That girl…

“Mom I look fine.” Maria whined.

“No you don’t.”  Suzanna said walking past the table of men. She caught sight of Mr. Agreste trying not to look at her daughter. He was failing miserably but she appreciated that he was at least trying. She looked to her brothers who were busy playing on their phones and shook her head.

“Mom!” Maria whined.

Suzanna didn’t reply and instead she put a hand on her daughter’s shoulder and spun her around pushing her back into her room ignoring her protests.

Suzanna closed the door behind them and looked at her girl.

“You’re not going out in that.” She said.

“Why not!” her blue eyed daughter asked with a huff.

“Mija. You want his eyes on you. Not on the floor,” Suzanna said going to her close. “You have a bunch of nice dresses. Ooh you look so pretty in baby blue.”

Suzanna took a good look at the dress. It was a knee length skater dress that had a square neckline and was missing fabric on the natural waist and found a pair of white heels to go with it.

“Put these on now.” She ordered.

Maria frowned but didn’t bother fighting her. Suzanna smiled and waited for her daughter to change. She looked at her stand and noted that she had quite a few expensive pairs of shoes but she figured that since her daughter worked for such a famous man she could afford it.

“Better?” She asked. Suzanna smiled.

“Much better.” She replied forcing the girl to sit so she could fix her hair. Why was her daughter so tall? She was a good five inches bigger than her and it was such a bother sometimes.

“Why did I have to change?” Maria asked.

“Because if you want that man to look at you, you have to make him,” Suzanna said. “I don’t like him but I do want you to be happy.”

“Really?” she heard the girl say.

“Yes. You look so cute when he’s here that I can’t actually bring myself to be mean to him. And he surprisingly doesn’t give me that bad feeling I was expecting.” Suzanna explained.

“Thanks mom.” Her daughter said.

************** 

Maria was surprised when her mother rushed her out of her room as soon as she had finished. Her grandmother practically grabbed her and dragged her back into the kitchen.

“Serve Mr. Agreste and his son.” The old woman commanded without so much as room for her to protest.

She sighed and began to arrange two plates hoping that neither of two were allergic to the various herbs and spices used in the meal because she did not want to have that day end with someone in the hospital. Her aunts bustled around her serving plates for their husbands and children.

It felt weird to be amongst them serving. Growing up, she had always been taught that the woman was the worker and the one who had to ensure that things ran smoothly. That serving was the duty of a wife and mother.  Here she was, young and single and serving two people who probably only came out of sheer politeness, and yet somehow it felt right.

She smiled to herself as she finished serving the two before walking out with both plates.  Adrien was sitting with her brothers and cousins chatting happily and Gabriel was immersed in a heavy debate with her uncles and grandfathers.

She set the plate in front of Adrien and patted his head as he thanked her. She walked to Gabriel and set his plate in front of him.

“Don’t worry, the antidote is in your drink.” She said with a giggle.

“Too bad the poison I gave you hasn’t set in yet.” He replied with a smirk.

“Oh know, what ever shall I do?” She replied with a roll of her eyes.

Her eyes darted to her grandmother and older brother standing in front of her flat screen. She could already feel death creeping on her. She quickly ran to the kitchen hoping to avoid her most certain death.

******

Aaron wanted to scream as his grandmother basically forced him to put on the one video both he and Maria needed forever destroyed. The video wasn’t too bad. It was just the first confession of his gayness and Maria predicting her life twenty years ahead.

He watched in envy as his sister went to hide the kitchen. Theo was sitting happily with Adrien and the two were conversing while Arty translated for them and they were blissful in their ignorance. He wanted to die as his grandmother began to open her mouth.

“Everyone look at the tv! I forgot I had this cute video on me!!” She yelled.

 _Oh death how sweet was thy embrace…._ He thought.

**************  

Gabriel was slightly amused. The video itself was 20 years old at most but the whole of it was very entertaining. He caught sight of a three year old version of a certain young woman who had disappeared.

She still had the same angry face he noted but what made it hilarious was that she had an old magazine with his face plastered on it. He didn’t realize how international those shots were.

“LEMA!” He heard the baby version of Maria yell. “WHY DO YOU HAVE PICTURES OF MY HUSBAND ON YOUR WALL.”

“Oh my god, AJ, are you hearing your daughter!” The woman on the screen said with a laugh.

“It’s not funny! He’s mine so stop!” the child ranted.

Gabriel covered his mouth to stifle a laugh. He noted that Miss Balboa was watching from the side trying to hide her embarrassment. He wouldn’t harass her too much about it, but it certainly was a nice amount of ammunition for later.

*****************

Maria sat down next to Gabriel and almost let out a yelp when she realized she was in front of her Godmother. She gave a weak smile as she grabbed some soda and quickly began eating as means of avoiding conversation.

She looked to her young cousin. The six year old boy was obviously not pleased to be seated in front of her boss. She was glad that her father, uncles, and grandfathers had taken to man almost immediately.

She noted that every once in a while Gabriel would take a deep breath trying to hide a hiss of pain. She looked to her cousin and the boy was obviously amused.

“Rudy…” she warned.

“Yeah?” the child chirped with an innocent smile.

“Don’t be kicking people at the table.” She said with a glare.

“I’m not doing that.” He replied giving a glare to Gabriel who was very good at pretending he wasn’t listening.

“I’m not gonna buy you ice cream.” She said.

“I don’t care.” He replied poking at his food. Maria frowned. She didn’t know why the kid was acting up. Normally Rudy was a little dear with her and usually listened to her. His sudden rebellion was making her worry.

************* 

Suzanna smiled as she watched her daughter and the man. While the man had initially come off as awkward, it was interesting to see that he seemed less tense. She watched as the two joked with her husband and the other men and bickered like her in-laws.

The man didn’t seem too bad. She figured the death of his wife must’ve worked a pretty number on both him and his son. She knew losing a parent and a spouse was a hard thing. She could still remember her own mother’s death.

She had been 13 when her mother had died and within that year she had no choice but to move to a new country and learn a new language. Death was always a hard thing to move on from. Her father had married again when she was 19 and that too ended tragically.

She noted that the man had a bit of a staring problem. When Maria wasn’t looking the man would watch her out of the corner of his eye and frankly it was the most adorable thing ever. It looks like stars where in his eyes when he thought no one was looking.

His son was also a precious thing. She could see why her daughter was so adamant on spoiling the boy. He seemed so genuinely kind and all the girls had taken to him almost instantly. She could hear her nieces talking about how they all wanted to be the boy’s mother.

She looked to her husband who gave her his trademark smirk before taking a sip of his drink.

“You know what would make this whole shindig even better?” He began. “We should go to the roof and dance a bit. I got the speaker.”

“Ugh dad. We don’t need to do that.” Maria said with a groan.

“Why, don’t wanna impress your future husband?” AJ teased.

“Dad! I was three!” She cried indignantly. She was as red as a tomato. It was so cute. Mr. Agreste had to hide his laugh she noted. “Boss! Stop laughing.”

He failed at hiding his laughter. She watched as they switched languages for second. Whatever he said was obviously taunting but enough to get her daughter to turn away and turn even redder.

“I think dancing is a great idea, Mija, stop ruining our fun.” Suzanna said.

“Ugh, fine. But I’m not dancing.” Maria muttered.

***************  

Maria frowned as they were all on the roof. She watched as everyone strung along to music. She wound up sitting next to Gabriel who was just as un-amused as she was. She watched as her cousins basically took turns trying to teach Adrien to dance to bachata music.

“Adrien must be having a field day.” She commented.

“He’s not particularly adverse to this type of attention. He actually hates when people ask for him to sign things.” Gabriel said.

“Aah, wait until he realizes that they’re all trying to mother him.” Maria said with a snort.

“He’ll probably want to buy them all something or take them somewhere nice to show appreciation.” Gabriel said.

“That’s precious.” Maria said. She listened to the familiar strum of guitars. She knew this song. It was always one of her favorites. “Dance with me.”

“what?” He replied looking at her suspiciously.

“I really like this song and honestly it always puts me in a mood to dance,” She explained standing up. “Plus you’re the only guy tall enough for me to dance with.”

************** 

Gabriel stood up and said, “Only because you acknowledged that you’re tiny.”

“I’m only tiny compared to you.” She said grabbing his hand and leading him to where the others were dancing.

She smiled and placed his hand where her skin was showing and he immediately began to regret his decision. What if he did something creepy on accident? She showed no signs of being discomforted by his hand being there so he said nothing. She put one hand on his shoulder and took his other.

“Move your foot front.” She said. He nodded and did so.

Surprisingly it was rather easy. She ordered his foot movement for only a bit before he got the hang of it. Two step forwards, one step back, one step to the left, one to the right, spin Maria, repeat. It was a natural movement. It was strange to have her so close, chests pressed together, his arm around her waist feeling the movement of her hips; all of it was so surreal.

“Who knew you could dance.” He taunted.

“I can dance very well, you’re a fast learner.” She countered.

************* 

_~That only for a kiss one could fall in love,_

_without the need to speak only with cupid targeting an arrow to the lips…~_

*************

Dancing with him was the most natural thing she had ever done. In some ways it was like work. They moved around each other but kept so close that nothing could come between them. His hands set the bare pieces of her skin on fire with how close they were.

She wondered how many songs they hand danced before he decided it was time for him and Adrien to leave.

“Go walk them to their car.” Her grandmother said. Of course, she had too because it was bad manners not to.

Adrien probably walked faster than either had expected or maybe they were just walking slowly. She walked behind trying to remember him as he was in that moment. It felt so unreal but at the same time it had been the most real thing.

Her eyes kept on his back not realizing that she had missed a step. She let out a loud shriek half expecting to fall on him. But it never came. Instead she found herself with her back against the wall of the stairway with both her hands pinned to the side.

Gabriel’s glass had fallen she noted and then she looked him in the eye.

************** 

_Gabriel looked into Maria’s eyes. They were so blue and alluring like the ocean. They were slowly sucking him in… god how he wanted to drown in her eyes and never return. He wanted to be suffocated in her essence._

**Maria could almost feel her feet give up. She wanted to collapse into him. His gaze was destroying every inch of her and she could not help but let him. She wanted him to ruin her in every way possible.  She licked her lips looking at him.**

**She wanted to beg to him to do what he could in that moment to her. To steal what he could from her. She wanted to give anything to him as long as he would take it.**

_Her mouth was calling to him even though it was closed. He wondered if she would let him take everything he could in that moment. He wanted all she could give and right now that was her mouth. He leaned forward and prayed that she would not run._

_His mouth brushed hers softly and he looked at her face. Her eyes were hooded and expectant as if she had desired more than that of a simple brush of lips. He complied with her expectancy and this time pressed his lips upon hers with a gentle force._

**She was surprised when she felt his lips on hers again. This time it was much more forceful… forceful enough to drive her wild. His mouth worked wonders on hers teaching her how to move to his rhythm. It was like their dance, slowly heating up with each movement, each move becoming more and move in sync.**

_He was surprised at her response and wondered how far she would let him go with her mouth? He licked her lips which caused her to gasp softly. He took that moment to slip his tongue into her mouth and taste her. She responded eagerly with her own tongue._

_He pulled away and rested his head on her shoulder before placing a few kisses on her neck._

_“You shouldn’t make it a habit to kiss employees.” He heard her say between her gasps._

**“You shouldn’t make a habit of kissing your employer.” She heard him respond in a husky voice.**

**She frowned and kept her eyes shut savoring the warmth of his presence.**

**“I suppose I shouldn’t read much into this?” she asked.**

_“And I suppose I shouldn’t either.” He replied._

The two split away knowing that soon people would become suspicious of them. They walked away both thinking the same thing.

**_Dear god, please don’t realize how much I want you…._ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAAAAAAAAAAAH so thank @ptolomeia for the first kiss in this chapter.
> 
> @incentivess for the table kicking and also big shot out to her because she’s drawn me some really pretty art and of course @skynetta for her art (you two spoil me <3)
> 
> thank @maricurious for having gabriel and maria fall to their backs. 
> 
> and a big shout out to @lastroseofspring for suggesting a food fight but sadly it could not fit
> 
> and of course thank you @fullmetalpotterhead for helping me find a song. 
> 
> aaaaaaaaaaaah if anyone is wondering what song they were dancing to it was “Solo Por Un Beso” by Aventura and I placed a translated bit in the middle of pov changes between Gabriel and Maria while they were dancing
> 
> Well time to go write the chapter for 12 strokes
> 
> see you all here again for the start of hell month :D


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I know I’m way off my schedule but oh my god school is piling down on me and it’s hard to focus on this at times! I do plan on finishing it. Sadly, none of the horrible things I have planned start yet and this pretty much a filler but enjoy :D

Maria lay in bed knowing she would have to get up quickly and leave before anyone realized she had her boss’s blazer and shirt. She got up from her bed rubbing her head and looking at the floor. Her eyes darted too the baby blue skater dress on the floor. She shuddered at the memory of the night before. She had given into an impulse and it had been the most glorious thing ever. Her hand went to her neck as she recalled the soft kisses he had pressed there. She gave another shudder.

She shook her head and quickly went to shower. She needed to pretend she was okay for the day. She felt her body shake as she stood in the shower. How could she be okay? She had wanted more but god she needed to stop. She turned the cold water on hoping it would put her on track.

*********** 

After a long cold shower Maria was glad to change into her clothes. She had figured a lacy pencil skirt and a lace crop top would be okay since they were black and all that really showed was her mid-drift. She managed to blow-dry her hair and used a crimper to give it a bit more of a wave. She applied some make up and sighed as she put on some black pumps.

She walked into the kitchen surprised to see her cousins and siblings all sitting at the table chatting happily.

“The demon awakens!” She heard Arturo yell.

“Can it, heathen.” She said sitting down.

“Ay Maria, Maria.” She heard her cousin Carlos call. The brown eyed young man had a grin on his pale face which was cause for worry.

“What?” She asked as Aaron served her some coffee.

“You should change your last name to Reynolds.” He said with a grin.

“Why? Did I finally get to marry Ryan?” Maria asked with a snort.

“Nah, because the way you were dancing with your boss last night makes it obvious he can’t say no to this.” He replied singing the last part.

“Oh god. Stop,” She said. “I regret ever showing you guys that.”

“Naah,” She heard Zeke say. “She should change her name to Eliza because the man made her helpless.”

“Oh my god, please stop. You don’t even like Hamilton, Zeke.” She whined slamming her hand onto her forehead.

“Nah,” She heard Aaron say. “She should change her name to Angelica because with all that denial those two will never be satisfied.”

“Okay, enough. First of all, Carlos, I do not pronounce my name like Mariah Carrey so that joke failed, secondly, we all know I can take three men twice my size down, third of all, I have a vibrator, case closed.” She snapped.

“EEEeew!” She heard all five boys shriek. She gave a smug smirk before taking a sip of her coffee.

***********  

Gabriel had been awake for perhaps three hours and he had yet to get out of bed. Maybe it was because the guilt of what he had done when he was fully conscious. He knew had to get up and shower and make sure to remove the sheets before any questions were asked.

His mind went to an old maid that had worked for his father; Bernadette Tahelot. He knew if she saw him right now she’d probably have a field day laughing at him and talking about her son. He wondered why he thought of her. Perhaps, it was because she was the only mother he knew as a child. He could hardly say that his own mother was a woman to be remembered.

He closed his eyes and wondered even more why his mind was going to people he hadn’t thought about in years. He frowned and got up. He needed to do other things besides mull on the pass or think about a stupid kiss…

God how he hated that kiss and everything it remind him off. The fire that had been in the kiss had destroyed him, burned him alive, and left him for dead. He hated how it left him wanting more something he could not have.

He shook his head and went to take a cold shower. He was gonna need it.

********** 

Adrien walked into the dining room and sat down. He looked to his father who was reading his newspaper while their pets lay happily on his lap. He bit his lip and hung his head in shame. His father was probably the only person he could ask such a ridiculous question.

“Dad…” He began.

“Yes, son?” He heard his dad reply.

“Do you know where I can buy dresses for Barbie dolls that look like Disney princess dressed?” Adrien asked.

“Why…?” He looked up and saw his father staring him confused.

“I lost a bet…” He replied trying to be as vague as possible.

“To who?” He could hear the disappointment practically readying itself onto his father’s face.

“Maria’s niece…” He whispered.

There was a long silence. Adrien watched his father as the man set down his coffee and took both the dog and the cat off his lap before getting up and leaving the room. Adrien was ready to cry when he was startled by what sounded like a grown man laughing. He opened the door to find his father doubled over clutching his stomach laughing loudly.

“Dad?” he called.

“Give…pfft.. a hahahahha.. a minute.” His father said between his laughs.

Adrien nodded and went and sat down. He was not sure if he was dreaming or not. His father actually was laughing.

He looked back at the door and watched as his father returned with some sort of composure.

“So what exactly happened?” his dad asked.

“Ah well… She told me she could get this thing, I forget what Arturo called it, and I said she couldn’t and she said she bet all her cookies that she could. And then the next thing I knew, the devil had won and wanted new dresses for her dolls.” He lied. There was no way in hell his father would find out that the whole kiss ordeal that it may have been his fault for antagonizing an evil four year old.

“I have a few, but they will cost you.” His dad said.

“Do you have any Cinderella themed ones?” Adrien asked.

“Old or new?”

“Both will do.”

“Fine, but, son. No more making bets with Mexican four year olds.”

“I know.”

************  

 Marinette sighed as she got dressed. She put on a simple pair of black skinny jeans and a red tank top. She pulled her hair into a simple high pony-tail and looked at herself in the mirror. She looked at Tikki then at the door. She felt sleepy as of late. She was so giddy about the internship but there was also another thing bothering her.

She was worried that Adrien thought she only started being nice to him to get close to get to his father, which was hardly the case. She wanted to be his friend because she believed there was much more to him than some spoiled rich boy.  She sighed and grabbed both of her bags.

“Marinette… I’m sure Adrien knows you’re his friend because you think he’s a wonderful person.” Tikki said.

“I know… it’s just… I was so excited about the internship and then suddenly it struck me as to how bad it looked.” She said quietly.

“Mr. Agreste knows you’re talented and Adrien knows it too!” Tikki said.

“But it just looks like I was using him.” Marinette

“Marinette…” She could hear Tikki whisper.

She frowned and quickly sped off for the day.

****** 

Adrien sighed as he walked out of the car. His father had been trying to keep his composure during most of the ride but he could tell the man was about to break out laughing at any moment. He never realized how easily amused his father by ridiculous things. He felt like his ego had been practically destroyed.

He saw Marinette walking and frowned. He noted that she seemed a bit upset which in turn made him upset.

“Hey!” He called running up to her.

“Oh… hey Adrien.” She said with a smile. He frowned it was obvious something was bugging her.

“What’s up?” He asked.

“Oh nothing much. You should consider doing your hair though. Alya might confuse you for Chat Noir again.” She said.

“I would but I think my good looks come out when my hair is in its most natural and pure state. Plus I think it keeps a certain girl’s eye on me.” He replied with a wink.

“Who Chloe?” She asked. Her voice sounded a bit disappointed.

“Ahaha no. Ladybug.” He replied. _And you hopefully._ His mind supplied.

Marinette giggled and said, “Ladybug doesn’t show any signs of being interested in anyone.”

“Your words wound me, my good lady.” He said with mock hurt.

“Well then, Sir, you shouldn’t have set yourself up for them.” She said with a snort.

“Ah, Marinette, careful, your mystery boy might see me and be intimidated,” He said with a wink. “After all, I am the Adrien Agreste.”

“Careful Adrien,” Nino said. “Your head might get too big for your body.”

“Nino!” He said pulling him into a hug.

“What’s up, bud?” Nino said.

“I was teasing Marinette about her mystery boy. Can you believe it?” He said pulling away with a grin.

“Bruh…” Nino said with a sigh looking at him like he was an idiot.

“What?” Adrien asked looking between Marinette and Nino.

“I’ll keep you in my prayers.” Nino said with a snort.

“What is it with everyone laughing at me? First my dad, now you?” Adrien whined. Why did everyone seem to take amusement in his attitude today?

“Wait you got the robot to laugh?” Nino asked.

“Two things: One, my dad is not a robot. Two, I did and I think he’s still laughing.” Adrien replied crossing his arms.

“What did you do?” Marinette asked.

Adrien became quiet.

“I lost a bet to a four year old.” He said looking away hoping his voice was low enough that neither would catch it and maybe drop the subject all together.

“How did you lose a bet to a four year old?” Marinette and Nino cried loudly.

“Oh god, guys please tone it down,” He cried. “I’ll explain.”

Both of them looked at him and he sighed.

“Well yesterday, we had dinner with Maria’s family and Maria’s goddaughter was telling me she wanted me to be part of the family, or at least that’s what Arturo said and then I was like tell her it’s impossible because they haven’t kissed. And the kid said she could get them to kiss and bet her cookies—you guys know I’m weak against cookies—so I took it and then when I least expected it the kid had them lip locking.” He explained.

“Bruh…” Nino said looking at him with wide eyes.

“Damn, get me her number, she can probably help me with a few match making schemes me and Alya have.” Marinette said.

“You need her uncles who can speak French.” He mumbled.

“We should get to class.” Nino said motioning for them to get moving to class.

**************

Maria sat at her desk staring at her design. It was a perfect failure. The dress lacked any originality and looked like something that could be purchased of some shady stall at the swap meet for fifty dollars. She looked over it again.

“Jesus, Maria, the way you’re glaring at that paper makes it look like you’re gonna tear it to shreds.” Eponine said.

“I know,” She cried. “Why can’t I design anything? Have I finally gone past my peak?”

“Girly, you’re being melodramatic. I think you just don’t have the right muse. I’m sure after we pick a theme today you’ll be on top of all the designs.” Eponine said with a smile.

“Easy for you to say! This is the first design stump I’ve had since I was 21!” Maria cried. She looked at the design. Easily done ruffles and a style that could easily be emulated by a half-rate seem mistress.

“Oh really.” She heard. She groaned loudly and slammed her head against the table.

“Hello Mr. Agreste.” She heard Eponine great.

“Not today, Satan.” She said turning her head to look at him.

“I’m sure your god daughter will be disappointed then.” He said with a snort.

“I’m missing something here.” She mumbled.

“Adrien lost a bet to Luciana.” He explained taking a seat.

“How the fuck?” Maria asked sitting up.

“Who’s Luciana and why is this shocking?” Eponine asked confused.

“Luciana’s my four year old niece,” Maria said. “Wait Adrien lost a bet to Luciana?”

“Oh yes, it was the highlight of my morning.” He replied with a snort.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAAAAAAAAAh If I was gabriel and my 16 year old told me he lost a bet to a four year old i’d lose my shit too tbh


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAAAAAAAAH I KNOW THIS CHAPTER TOOK LONG BUT COLLEGE AND WRITERS BLOCK GUYS. Please accept this chapter as an apology.

 Aaron sat at his desk checking through his scans. The hack sources were easily decrypted and lead back to one Etienne and Renee Agreste which shocked the hell out of him. He didn’t know what the deal was with the Agreste family but he knew a lot of them seemed to be out to get both Gabriel and Adrien seeing as the files they had tried specifically to hack had to do with them.

He took a sip of his espresso and then frowned. All the files were clean but they were obviously looking for something and the finances probably had to do a lot with whatever they were looking for.

“How do you deal with it?” He heard Eponine cry as she sat down in front of him.

“Deal with what?” He asked slightly amused at the exasperated dark skinned woman.

“The sexual tension between those two! We chose a theme which was with France’s revolutionary period and then somehow it got quiet and the next thing I know I’m sitting there watching those two practically undress each other with their eyes and it was disgusting!” She cried.

“Ooh maybe they kissed?” He replied leaning back.

“It must’ve been a hell of a kiss if those two look at each other like they’re about to screw each other’s brains out. I am a decent person, Aaron! I don’t deserve this.” She sighed.

“I know,” He said with a laugh. “Man, we should be more worried about Agreste blowing a gasket soon.”

“Why?” She asked confused.

“Well I’ve been looking into this hack since Friday and it all goes back to Etienne and Renee Agreste.” He said with frown.

“Fuck. Everyone knows that if there is one thing boss hates even more than someone fucking up the line before fashion week, it’s the former mayor.” Eponine said with a grimace.

******* 

Maria frowned as she looked for Eponine. She was so going to kill her for leaving her alone with Mr. Agreste. She had been hoping the older girl would have been the one to keep the awkward tension at bay, though that had been a complete lie.

Seeing Mr. Agreste had been fine until it had gotten silent. Her mind had kept drifting to kiss from the night before and somehow it wouldn’t stop! She couldn’t focus on much except his mouth. It didn’t help that his lips tended to part when he was focus and her neck seemed to become hotter every time she looked at them.

She took a deep breath as she walked into Aaron’s office. Eponine looked at her with a wry smile which Maria returned with a frown.

“What up, hoes?” She asked leaning on the door.

“Frankly, I’m more a conservative nun and you look more like a hoe, today,” Aaron replied leaning forward with a smirk. Maria glared at her older brother.

“Jealous because I can get more dick than you.” Maria said with a frown.

“Nah, I’ve got me a premium dick.” He replied with giggle.

Maria rolled her eyes and took the chair next to Eponine.

“We’re supposed to be back in ten because the ass needs us to start looking at lace motifs for the veils since we decided were doing mantillas.” Maria said to the other woman.

“Bruh. I know. Let me relax. You two are particularly not easy to be around today.” Eponine said.

“Sure.” Maria muttered leaning back and crossing her arms.

****** 

Gabriel almost let out a growl as he looked over the files that Nathalie had recently given him. They were files on his side ventures which consisted of real estate outside of France; however, they had been laced with a personal file as well.

“Victor is up to something…” He muttered darkly looking over the file.  

He leaned back and sighed in frustration. It was not his day. First, he had regressed to a teenage boy, and then he learned his son was about as bad as he was at taking bets,  and then he came to work and all of his early morning problems had reappeared and seemed much demanding than ever. He almost wanted to scream.

He took a deep breath looking over the files and the data sent to him. He’d probably have Mr. Balboa explain what that hell all of that meant. He was trying to do anything to shift his focus from his frustrations.

Of course, there was also the small—a rather large understatement there—issue about a certain past event with Miss Balboa. He had thought that since the morning had ended with both of them laughing at childish antics all would be well… and it was well until it got quiet. Then his mind had made note to correlate with another friend and harass him about the fact that Miss Balboa was leaving very little to the imagination.

He knew that whether he liked it or not, he was actually going to have to deal with the kiss, Victor acting up, and everything in between that day. He was not excited.

**************

Adrien was practically falling asleep as they went over the final reviews. A lot of this had tragically been taught to him by Nathalie. He looked over to Nino who seemed just as sleepy. He was tempted to turn around and look to see how Marinette and Alya were doing.

He was itching for some sort of action really. Frankly, all of the Akumas since Tank Master had been lesser than expected from Hawkmoth. He and Ladybug had not taken more than thirty minutes to defeat who ever showed up which left him more anxious than ever.

Of course, Ladybug was the calm one. She was the one with the plan so she didn’t have to worry much, and frankly with the miraculous cure they didn’t have to worry about the property damages. But something was bugging him. Hawkmoth, whatever his game was, wasn’t acting normally. Something was incredibly off about all the Akumas. He hadn’t thought much about it until that moment.

His ruminating seemed to be only thing keeping him away in class. _Dammit, I should really ask Plagg if this is normal. Something is up and I need to know what._ Maybe he was being paranoid, but he had the curse of bad luck, and a bad habit about being right when it came to bad feelings.

******

Marinette frowned as she tried to keep focus. She hadn’t really been trying to think about her duties as Ladybug but boredom seemed to lead to those thoughts. She wondered if Chat noticed that the Akumas that had been happening as of late seemed far too easy.

There was something off about how hawkmoth was playing and she wanted to believe that it was nothing and that it was really the nerves of her impending internship and the fear of having Adrien find out about her crush, but neither of those two put her as on edge as Hawkmoth.

She looked to Alya who seemed blissfully unaware of the way the world seemed to turn dangerously fast. She wanted to pretend that she had Alya’s problems… though if Alya had her problems she’d probably pull a peter parker.

She tried to focus on the review. She knew jack shit about ancient Egypt and no amount of history tutoring from Tikki would help. She figured she could just call Chat later and work out a battle plan just in case.

“Miss Dupain-Cheng, can you tell me what is the name of the Pharaoh dubbed the boy king?” She heard her teacher call.

“Uuuh king butt?” she replied unsure of what to say. She definitely had not been paying attention.

****** 

Maria sat going over a new sketch. She liked how that one had come out. It was based on Empress Josephine’s coronation dress but she felt like it was becoming a bit of a replica. She grabbed her nearest pencil and began erasing several parts of the dress.

She looked to it and began to think back to her fashion history courses.  One professor had mentioned that the fabric would be dipped in water for ridiculous amounts of time to try and create and incredibly sheer look that made it look like they were wearing water.

“How much would it cost us to get fabric that replicated water?” She asked aloud causing Eponine to look up.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“Well, I was thinking about how in ye olden days, a lot of women in the Directoire period would put their dresses in water to make it insanely sheer with the intent of making it kind of look like water.” Maria explained.

“Oh my shit, that would look amazing!” Eponine exclaimed

“Right!” she replied squealing with excitement.

Maria began looking through her sketches to see if she could find any sketches that she could quickly redesign to fit her idea. She found quite a few that could probably work.

“AH SHIT!” she cried. “I gotta get this approved by asshole first.”

“Go, get it approved!” Eponine said shooing her away.

************ 

When Gabriel looked up from his desk after hearing a knock his first thought was to curse whoever the hell had opened his window—he had been cursing himself all day to be frank. The lighting seemed to be against his desire to normalize the way he looked at Miss Balboa. Her entrance seemed to be like one of those described in those trashy novels the maids often left behind… not that he had read any but he skimmed enough to know that her entrance was almost as **_romantic_** as those.

She had a casual entrance; a simple knock on his already open door followed by light hitting her in just the right angle which made her look inhumanly beautiful. He had the urge to punch himself in a particular area just because this was really not the time for that.

“Yes Miss Balboa.” He asked trying to hide his irate mood.

“Ah is everything okay?” She asked.

“All is well at the moment, did you need something? I thought you and Miss Laura would be working on sketches?” He replied adjusting his glasses.

“Ah that is what I came to talk to you about? Also, do you mind if I close the door, I feel like if someone passes by they might wind up seeing something they might not like?” She said motioning to the door.

“Fine. You should fix that skirt when you get a chance. We wouldn’t want anyone knowing the color of your underwear.” He replied sarcastically.

“It’s a nude color thong.” She replied with a challenging raise of her eyebrow and a smirk.

Gabriel almost let his composure slip. That had not been the expected response. He knew his interested was brought up very much and he hated it. He faked a cough.

“Right… What did you need to speak about?” He asked trying to hide the awkwardness that he was feeling.

“Well,” She began taking a seat. “Me and Eponine where talking about the bridal line and looking into the designs and I remembered something from my fashion history courses.”

“What?” He asked leaning back observing her.

“Well a professor of mine told me that a lot of women always tried to get the bottoms of their dresses as sheer as possible and I was thinking about perhaps doing something along the lines of that.” She said.

“Please elaborate.” He replied.

“Ah well, according to my professor a lot of the women wanted the fabric to be really thin so they would place it in water and then see if they could slide it through their wedding rings. The main idea is what if we used a fabric that replicated that sheerness. It’s a great illusion and would go perfect with the theme we picked.” She elaborated with an excited smile.

He stared at her for a second before looking to his screen. The concept had a lot of promise. He recalled any and all art classes that spoke about the art of Post-Revolutionary France and always finding the edges of water that always seemed to pull the woman to be such an enigma. 

“If we were to do something similar, we should have to get a special type fabric made. You would have to deal with Madame Dubois personally and oversee the fabric yourself, while me and Miss Laura work on the sketches.” He replied.

“Wait, really?” she asked with a small bounce.

“Yes. However, since you are here, I can get a few things out of the way.” He said.   
*****    
Maria’s heart stopped when he said that. She had been hoping to avoid any and all conversation about the night before.

“Like what?” She asked trying to keep her composure.

“As you know, during the summer every now and then I tend to take an intern or two from the university.” He expanded and she almost let out a breath of relief.

“Yes, I am well aware of your internships, you offered me one when we first met.” She said with a smile. Her mind could probably remember that night so clearly at the moment. It had been so different from how they were now.

“And you turned it down due to personal reasons,” he said with a smile. “Well, this year and for the next few years, I will not be taking any university students. You know Marinette Dupain-Cheng, she’s quite the talent.”

“Marinette is very skilled at design for her age. Is she going to be interning with us?” Maria asked feeling slightly excited.

“Yes, I was hoping that you would help me with getting her acquainted with the industry. You seem to get along well with the young people and I feel that it would help her adapt to company over time.” He said.

“Oh I can do that!” She exclaimed.

“Also… this bit stays between us,” He began in a low voice—her mind was not gonna let her sleep because of it. “I’m sure you’ve noticed Adrien’s strange habit of trying to keep you and I near each other.”

“I’ve noticed.” She muttered both cursing and blessing the boy.

“Well, I would appreciate it if you could return the favor if I’m not available.” He said with a devilish smirk crossing his handsome face.

“My pleasure.” She replied giving a smirk of her own.

“Right…” He replied. She noted that he was a bit off at that point. He seemed like he was at a loss for words.

“Is that all?” She asked desperate to leave the room. It wasn’t that she didn’t like the kiss the night before. She was afraid of what would come after. She wanted to believe that she could hope but she knew better than that. Hope like that usually led to heartbreak and she didn’t ever want to experience that again.

“No… we need to talk about last night.” He said.

Maria looked down and bit her lip.

“Do we have too?” She asked softly feeling herself start shaking. 

****** 

He frowned and looked away. He knew that this conversation was not going to be pretty but he figured it would probably be harder to deal with it at a later time.

“I would prefer not to either…” He began. “But it will be something that might bite us in the ass soon enough.”

“You have a point but—,” Maria stood up. “—I’m not ready to deal with it. I have no idea what to say and I doubt you do too.”

“You’re right.” He said standing up and walking to her.

“Then why do we have to deal with it right now?” she asked.

Gabriel didn’t know how to respond. Telling her that he couldn’t stop thinking of the kiss was probably a big no-no. How could he explain that the kiss and seeing her was driving him mad without offending her? He let out a sigh.

“Because…” He began hesitantly bringing a hand to her cheek.

****   
Maria was surprised at how calming his touch was. She rarely liked when people touched her, she couldn’t even stand Aaron putting his hand on her shoulder after a while. Yet, Gabriel seemed to be on the same level as her grandmother. His touch was too calming for her.

“You can’t do this… it’s not fair.” She whispered.

*******

“What isn’t?” He asked confused as his hand gently stroked her cheek.

Gabriel hated touching people more than anything. Adrien had always been his exception even after the death of Clarisse. Touching Maria seemed just easy as it was to hug Adrien; but just as terrifying. It filled him with so much hope that it horrified him.

******

“Why do you make me feel so calm and yet somehow manage to piss me off at the same time? It’s not fair! I want to hate you and the next thing I know I need you to kiss me!” She snapped in frustration. “It’s not fair.”

****** 

“You terrify me,” he said quietly. “I think you’re horrifying and I really want to kiss you.”

*****

Maria had not expected him to kiss her but she was grateful he did. She pulled him close with the lapels of his jacket shivering as she felt one of his arms snake around her waist and the other in her hair. The kiss felt as hot as the one the night before.  The difference there was that it wasn’t hot. There was no desperation; it was his lips moving softly against hers.

The closeness seemed so much better than the night before. It felt less rushed and much more promising. The way he held her seemed much less confident. It was hesitant and comforting all in one.  

The kiss came to an end when they heard a knock on the door. Maria pulled back and looked back.

“Gabriel, open the door.” She heard Nathalie call.

She looked to Gabriel who seemed just as perplexed. Nathalie sounded angry with a capital A. She was confused and so was Gabriel from the looks of it. He let go and motioned for her to follow him to the door. She watched as he opened the door and praised the lord for matte lipstick.

 The first thing she noticed was a woman with greying hair and the same blue eyes as Gabriel, but her eyes were much colder. She was wearing an expensive suit with all her hair pulled back. Despite her fancy looks she had a miserable feel to her.

“Collette…” She heard Gabriel snarl. She looked back to Gabriel and whatever small trace of warmth that he usually emitted was gone. He was freezing.

“Hello little brother… It’s been a while.” The woman named Collette said.

“Maria, Adrien is set to come here anytime now. Please keep him distracted while I speak with Collette.” He said quietly.

“Yes, sir.” She said quickly running off.

***** 

“Nathalie, you’re dismissed.” He said.

“Sir, I will be looking into new security guards to replace Mr. Durand.” She said.

“See to it that Mr. Moreau is given a raise when he comes back. Get in Collette.” He replied ushering the other woman in.

Gabriel was seething. He had EVERY security guard trained to not let in anyone who was named Agreste that was not himself or Adrien. He sat down on his chair and motioned for the older woman to take a seat.

“What do you want?” He snapped.

“I see you’re very straight to the point. So different from the stuttering baby you used to be.” She said with a fond smile. It was disgusting.

“We haven’t spoken since the Lannister incident, and considering how much it cost me, this better be worth my time.” He replied not bothering to even try to keep niceties.

“I wasn’t aware you watched such shows.” She said with that same disgusting smile.

“I needed to know what functional families where like after that little incident.” He deadpanned.

“Okay… I know you’re not happy with me or Victor. I’m not here on Victor’s behalf, if that makes you less abrasive.” She said. He had to hold a snort.

“I know better than to trust you,” He replied. “Tell me what you want and I’ll tell you to fuck off because I’ll die before I let any of the money I made touch you or anyone in that family’s hands.”

“I don’t want money… I want your forgiveness… You see. I’m joining a convent and the mother superior has asked to try and find forgiveness to those I hurt the most. I can’t ask for forgiveness from my Daniel. But I’ve wronged you very much.” She said tearing up.

Gabriel observed her. It was strange to see the once proud and glamourous Collette Agreste so subdued and sad. It was also very uncomfortable. She was too human and hard to demonize. His mind kept replaying all the horrible words from his child hood and the stolen brooch that had gotten Bernadette fired. They were the only things keeping him from letting his guard down.

“Well my childhood is still something I’m recovering from. Maybe my therapist will be more willing to listen.” He said.

“Your childhood was nothing compare to four years ago.” She said.

“What do you mean?” He said becoming stiff.

“I was desperate. My son was dying, my husband had gambled off all the money that could have paid his treatment and then… Victor came. He offered me a deal I couldn’t refuse at the time. Gabriel, I needed the money… He paid me to have pictures taken of his affair with Sandrine, and I… I showed them to Clarisse. I told her that it was you having the affair and that I was going to show the pictures to the media. I wasn’t guilty at first… but then… she said. She said that it was the excuse she needed to divorce you.”

“What…” Gabriel could feel his head throbbing and everything spinning.

“She said she didn’t…” Collette began to sob. “She said she didn’t care and then threw the pictures in the fire and I was confused. She already wanted to divorce you and then she died! And I couldn’t live with myself when I saw Adrien. She told me she couldn’t…”

“Leave. Go find forgiveness elsewhere.” He replied letting his voice become emotionless.

_Work. Don’t feel anything. Just work._ His mind repeated. _WORK. WORK. WORK. FORGET ALL YOUR FEELINGS AND WORK._

Collette gave a weak nod and left.

Gabriel felt his breath become shallow. Everything was too close. There was not enough room. Where was all the air? Had the room been so humid? WHY WASN’T HE WORKING? 

******** 

Adrien laughed as he and Maria made their way to his dad’s office. She had been telling him about her brothers’ first experience babysitting.

His laughter stopped when he caught sight of a very familiar and very unwanted face.

“What are you doing here?” He asked trying to keep all his anger in. He often tried not to be a hateful person for the sake of his mother, but like his father, the rest of the Agreste clan was a very big exception.

“I just needed to speak to your dad.” She replied.

“What, upset that he didn’t sign the check?” Adrien asked giving her a glare.

“I… I’m sorry. I’ll be going now.” She said quickly running off.

“Jesus, you guys must really hate that side of the family.” He heard Maria mutter.

“Yeah… my dad’s side of the family is more trouble than they’re worth.” He replied with a frown.

“I’m sorry, kid.” She said affectionately ruffling his hair. He smiled grateful for her presence. It was hard to believe that she was only seven years older than him. She always emitted a motherly feeling to her that went far beyond her age.

“It’s not a big deal.” She said with a smile.

There was a loud crash near his dad’s office. He looked to Maria and she seemed very worried. The two of them made their way quickly to the office.

Adrien felt his heart stop when he saw a large green flower like creature shrieking in pain. It looked at him and Adrien almost cried. The eyes were his father’s blue eyes and tears where leaking out of them. The creature let out another piercing shriek and held out its hand.

Adrien looked back at Maria and then at the monster. It let out a shriek before a plant engulfed both him and Maria.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Words to the wise. Don’t trust everything Collette says.   
> Anyways hopefully I can get this back on a regular update schedule.


	24. Chapter 24

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heeeeeeey guys. Y’all are in for a treat this chapter :D

Adrien was panicking because one: his father was an akuma and two: he and Maria where stuck in a plant like cocoon thing and he was pretty sure both of them were claustrophobic. He looked to Plagg who was staring at the older woman who was on the verge of a panic attack. He was probably gonna have one too. The last time he had one was probably when his family had that car crash.

He needed to get them both out before this cocoon type thing did something. He took a deep breath.

“PLAGG TRANSFORM ME!” He called.

He took a deep breath as he became Chat Noir. He looked to the panicking woman who surprisingly hadn’t noticed. Panic attacks tended to do that when they really caught you off guard, he thought as he got the cataclysm out. He pressed his hand to the base.

“Oh my god.” He heard Maria whisper.  He turned around to see Maria staring at him wide eyed and incredibly pale.

“Surprise….” He said with a nervous grin.

“Okay… this is okay.” She said taking a deep breath. “De-transform because people are coming.”

“You’re awfully calm about this.” Adrien said as Plagg flew out of the ring.

“Oh no, I’m so freaked out that my body has shut down.” She replied. “Now we need to get the fuck out of here that is some Los Angeles type shit.”

“What? How?” He asked confused.

“Maria! Adrien! Anyone?” He almost wanted to cry when he realized it was Aaron.

“Aaron we’re over here.” He heard Maria call.

He had never been more grateful for the two than in that moment. He was sure he was going to faint but was shocked back to life when the siblings pulled him into their hug.  He was spinning though. Everything seemed to be going too fast. He felt his snack coming up.

He pushed away from both siblings puking out his guts in the process.

“Adrien!” He was pretty sure he was hearing three screams.

**** 

Plagg had been trying his hardest to stay quiet seeing as the girl hadn’t noticed him but once Adrien started puking that plan went clearly out the window.

He looked to Aaron who picked up the boy bridal style.

“Ron, what’s the plan?” He asked biting his paw like hands.

“We get the kid home and I guess you and I go out?” Aaron said.

“What the hell is that and why does it know you!” He heard the smaller girl shriek.

“Oh hey, you lost weight.” Plagg said eyeing the girl. He recognized her as one of Aaron’s sisters. She had been much bigger in his memories.

“Aaron!” The girl yelled again obviously ready to kill them both.

“Explain later.” Aaron said dashing off with the delirious boy.

“Can I hide in your purse?” Plagg asked the girl.

“Fine, but you two better explain and if you comment on my weight, I will sit on you until you stop breathing.” The confused girl said.

“Deal.” Plagg said with a nod moving to her purse.

**** 

Maria quickly rushed behind Aaron despite the protest that her feet where giving her. Aaron was standing with Adrien half asleep half sobbing. Nathalie’s normal stoic expression was gone. She walked up to them.

“Is everything okay?” She asked.

“I’m afraid it isn’t, Miss Balboa. The Akuma has taken over the Agreste Manor and since its Gabriel, it’s more than likely that even with the security system, somehow it will get in. I was just explaining to your brother that we don’t have somewhere to take him.” Ms. Sancouer replied with a frustrated sigh.

“My house is far enough from the Agreste Manor.” Maria said without much thought. Adrien needed somewhere safe where he could calm down. His house was the last place she would suggest in all honesty.

“Miss Balboa…” Ms. Sancouer said with obvious concern.

“Adrien trusts me and his house isn’t safe. We don’t have anywhere else that will hold him short notice. At least with me you can be in constant contact with.” Maria insisted. “He’s not going to be able to go anywhere else.”

“I’ll have Gorilla take you. He’s already outside. As soon as he is fully conscious and less panicked, call me immediately.” The older woman said looking at Adrien.

“I will. You can trust me on that.”  Maria nodded.

**** 

Aaron was trying to keep still but the ride was hard and felt longer than necessary. When they arrived he was ready to dash out with Adrien who was already asleep practically. He looked to Maria who was surprisingly calm. She would probably be worse than Adrien later. Her anxiety always kicked in after things happened.

When they got up they were greeted by concerned and knowing faces.

“Put him in my room.” Maria said.

“? Mijo… It’s… es su Papa?” His grandmother asked with a frown looking at the television.

Aaron nodded following Maria’s instructions laying the boy on the bed and taking the ring from him. Maria closed the door behind him.

“I want explanations.” She said softly.

“I know.” He replied in an equally soft voice. “I know.”

“Well.” She said crossing her arms.

“Well it seems you kind of figured out who Adrien is.” Aaron said with a sad laugh. “They used call me El Gato Negro and told me I was bad luck for bad guys.”

“You… you were that person?” She said with surprised eyes.

“He was great too!” Plagg announced coming out from Maria’s purse. “One of the better ones I’ve had. Also one of the smartest.”

“Joey…” She said softly.

“That actually has a lot to do with our fallout and my depression, Maria.” He said looking away. “Plagg, I can still use the Miraculous right?”

“You’re still a good soul, yeah. He’s too stressed right now and his anxiety came back full force along with claustrophobia.” Plagg said. “Hey Maria, have some chocolate nearby him. That actually calms him down a lot.”

Maria nodded and said, “Go to the roof. You guys can get a clean view of the city and no one will question why you’re gone.”

“You’ll cover for us?” Aaron asked.

“Yeah.” She said with a nod. “Let me just get changed.”

“Okay…” He replied taking a seat at the edge of the bed.

Maria nodded grabbing some clothes from her drawers and going into her private bathroom.

Aaron took a deep breath. “He’s gonna be okay, right?” He asked softly looking at the distraught sleeping boy.

“You’re remembering when your own father got turned into an Akuma.” Plagg said nuzzling into Aaron’s cheek. “Its gonna be okay, Tomcat. Alice and Lorena were there for you and now you’re here for him. It’s okay.”

“I keep on telling myself that but dear god; I forgot how horrifying this could get… Whoever turned him into an Akuma…? It had to be personal and those are always the worst to come back from.” Aaron said slipping the ring back on. “Fuck... I’m scared.”

“Everyone is.” Plagg said quietly. “Let’s make this moth into a worm!”

“Hell yeah. That’s our best option.” Aaron said standing up.

“Aaron?” Maria called walking out of the bathroom in sweat pants and large “LA” shirt. “Are you gonna go now?”

“Yeah… Make sure you call, Ms. Sancouer when he wakes up and get the kid some chocolate.” Aaron said pulling her into a hug. “If Theo calls tell him I’ll stop by in a bit.”

“Okay.” She said. “Don’t get hurt.”

“No promise, gorda.” He teased.

“I’m gonna sit on you until you can’t breathe. I don’t a fuck if you work out. I’ll still beat your ass.”  She mumbled.

“Got it. You, me, and a pair of boxing gloves. We’ll settle the score once and for all, yeah?” He said with a grin.

“Go kick Monster Ass.” She said pushing him away.

“Hell yeah I will!” He said walking off towards the living room.

The whole family was looking at each other and then at him.

“All good?” His mother asked.

“Yeah, I’m gonna be on the roof for a while.” He said. “I need air.”

“Just be careful.” The middle aged woman said.

“I will.” He replied with a nod heading off to the roof.

*****

Ladybug stood on the Eifel tower staring at her yoyo. She was pacing looking down at the Agreste Manor. Every now and then a blood curdling scream would come from it and the Akuma would show its face. She was horrified that she couldn’t find the akuma at all. She had never seen anything like it.

“Ugly litte fucker ain’t it.” She turned her head to see a tall man wearing black cargo pants with combat boots with a tight leather turtle neck shirt with one elbow length glove one arm and a fingerless glove on the other. He had leather straps on the arm with the fingerless glove and two belts holding staffs.  He had on a simple mask that seemed to make his green eyes shine brighter and his messy dark hair had a set of cat ears.

“Who are you?” She asked stepping back a bit suspicious of the man.

The man kneeled down observing the house. “I am your kitty-cat’s predecessor El Gato Negro, and Chat Noir is unavailable at the moment due to health issues.” He replied. “Man, this is a nasty little shit.”

“Is the previous Ladybug here too?” Ladybug asked.

“Fucker before you isn’t worthy anymore and shouldn’t be allowed within ten feet of the miraculous.” Gato Negro replied.

“Oh… What happened to Chat?” She asked mimicking his actions.

“Panic attack that caused nausea and delirium. He’s currently at a safe location. Tikki treating you good?” the older man said.

“Yeah… you know her name?” Ladybug said a bit surprised.

“Yeah. I and the previous ladybug told our secret identities like six months into it.” He said with a nod. “There are a lot of people in the pods… Has Tikki taught you the Fortune’s Fool trick yet?”

“What?” Ladybug asked.

“Okay no. Look, I’m gonna need you to do a distraction on the akuma for long enough. I’m gonna use a special power that needs one good hit, it’ll free a lot of people and kind of keep the akuma at bay but like, it won’t defeat it. With the way things are going, this one might take a while.” Gato Negro replied.

“Where you the one making plans before?” Ladybug asked.

“Yeah, Mariquita was fucking wreckless to the point where it was worrisome.” Gato Negro said with a frown.

“I’ll use the lucky charm.” She said.

“Don’t. The Miraculous cure isn’t as strong when you use lucky charms repeatedly without curing anything.”  He said.

“Really?” She stared at the Akuma at the Agreste manor.

“It’s Gabriel Agreste, if it helps.” Gato Negro said with a grimace.

“Oh…” She said taking a deep breath. She looked at the Akuma. “Why flower themed?”

“I think it’s something personal. From what I know, Gabriel Agreste doesn’t use flowers in his designs often unless it’s an iris or a rose. So I’m guessing that the douche behind this knows him personally. That would be the best way to explain it. Those Akumas… they tend to be worse.” He said. “Can you distract him?”

“I’ll try my best.” She said with a nod.

“Good kid, I’m guessing you’re usually the one with the plan?” He said with a large Cheshire cat like grin.

“I am. See ya, Gato Negro.” She said with a two finger salute before swinging off. She took a deep breath as she landed on the front of the house.

The green wooden like face of the creature turned to her. It let out a loud howl as one of its vine like hands tried to grab her.  She let out a small gasp as she barely managed to dodge it. It let out another howl and Ladybug covered her ears.

“Dammit…” She whispered unsure of what to say. She needed a distraction without the lucky charm; something that could occupy the akuma while not hurting the victim. She looked around and nothing was in sight.

**_Marinette_**.

“Huh?” She whispered.

**_It’s me, Tikki. Listen, these Akumas are not easy, Gato Negro is right when he says that using the lucky charm will take away from the Miraculous Cure. But a thing to get rid of weeds would be useful!_ **

“Tikki… I’m so confused. This isn’t normal. Most Akumas are self-aware; they know what they’re doing. This one seems like its confused and in pain.” She said looking up at the screaming monster that was holding its head in pain.

**_I’m afraid so. Odds are that Hawkmoth has been planning this one for a while. Oh look the weed be gone!_ **

“Tikki! That’s right! That should be perfect.” Ladybug said with a grin. She quickly ran for the weed be gone grabbing it in her hands looking at the Akuma. She took a deep breath using the yoyo to launch her up.

She took another deep breath and yelled, “Hey ugly!”

The Akuma looked up at her and yelled loudly. She quickly threw the weed be gone in the Akuma’s face and it shrunk back yelling and hissing in pain. She looked away from the beast. She caught sight of Gato Negro jumping off the tower onto a long vine that had been going through the city.

“CATASTROPHIC MISFORTUNE!” she heard before a blinding green light hit her eyes as she landed back to her usual post on the Eifel tower. 

She watched as the light faded that many of the people were free and quickly dashing off. She heard a loud thud and the familiar miraculous beep.

“I’m not looking.” She said turning away.

“If you insist. Although, I look like a piece of shit, so please don’t look at me, I’m hideous.” She heard him say in an overly dramatic voice.

“What was that?” She asked.

“Catastrophic Misfortune is a great way to set free the people captured. Fortune’s Fool is similar but instead it turns the captured into a champion that frees themselves.” He explained. “Whew. I am getting old seeing as that took out a lot of me. Why the fuck did I study parkour and judo to be this out of breath for a warmup.”

“I see… Will you tell Chat I miss him?” She said quietly.

“Yeah, he’ll be happy to hear from his lovebug.” She heard the older man snort.

“He’s my best friend.” She said with a huff.

“That’s how a lot of great love stories start.” She heard him tease in a sing-song voice.

****** 

Maria sat on the bean bag chair near her bed reading the book Gabriel had bought her months back. That seemed to be the only thing that kept her calm waiting for Adrien to wake up. She heard him stirring.

“Adrien?” She said scrambling to get up.

“Huh… Maria?” He called his voice horse.

“Yeah, it’s me, cinnamon child.” She said looking over him as he awoke feeling relief wash over her. “Oh thank god you’re okay.”

“Where… Where am I?” he asked looking around.

“You’re in my room. You became delirious after vomiting and we couldn’t take you home so I suggested bringing you here,” She said handing him a plate with some chocolates in it as she helped him sit up. “The weird cat thing said these helped you down.”

“Plagg?” The child squeaked.

“Yeah him. He knows my brother apparently. I have a knack for being close to black cats.” She said with a snort.

“Oh.. So you know.” He said looking down.

“Adrien, are you feeling okay enough to stand or do you need more sleep?” she asked.

“Where is my ring?” He asked in a panic.

“I think Aaron took it.” She said. “He said he could still transform.”

“Can he do that?” Adrien asked calming down.

“I’m not sure. I don’t know how all this works.”  She said ruffling his hair.

“I think I’m good to stand.” He mumbled.

“Good,” she said handing him her phone. “Call Ms. Sancouer. She’s worried about you.”

“Okay.” He said as a fresh set of tears started forming.

“Hey.” She said softly wiping away his tears. “You can cry, honey. There’s nothing wrong with it.”

“I just… WHY ME?” Adrien broke down sobbing. Maria said nothing and pulled him closer hugging him hard. She understood his pain. Getting a parent akumatized was always a traumatic experience. She hugged him hard as she felt him shake.

“I’m so sorry.” She whispered. “I promise it’ll be okay.”

“How?!” He asked sobbing. “Nothing is okay!”

“I know, sweetie.” She said playing with his hair as she held him close. “Sometimes bad things happen when we least expect them. But they can be okay. And I know it’ll be okay.”

****

Adrien wrapped his arms around Maria and cried hard into her shoulder. It was comforting to have someone hug him. It felt so safe and so warm. It was hugging his mother but at the same time it was different. Hugging his mother always seemed like it was surreal especially since the only hugs he had known for the last four years had been those in his dreams. Hugging Maria was real. It was assuring and it had so many promises.

“I believe you.” He whispered.

“I believe in you. I know you can do it. You’re a freaking super hero.” She said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We got to see Aaron in action and two new powers!   
> So a few things. The previous Ladybug was a wreckless asshole named Joseph Noriega. Who can no longer use the Miraculous as opposed to Aaron which will be explained in another chapter. Originally the story with him involved death but with everything that's happened irl lately I figured it would be better for Joey to just be a punk bitch.,   
> Also, I am not writing anything from Gabriel's point of View as an Akuma because it'll be brought up later :D


	25. Chapter 25

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise guys! This fic isn’t dead! I’ve just been busy with other stuff lately and I’ve kind of hit a road block! Like I do know what is gonna happen for this story from start to finish but Hell Month is Hell. 
> 
> Also, Thank you for all this support that this fic gets! Y’all are my life line for this story! Any commentary or critique is greatly appreciated!

Chat Noir sighed as they stood on the Eifel tower. Three days. They had been at for _three days_ and still somehow the monster had gotten the better of them. He took out the water bottle that Maria had insisted he take with him. She claimed he was gonna need more water in his system and when he tried to insist that he was fine she sat him down and gave him the lecture of the century and made him bring a bottle for Ladybug.

She also had given him two lunchboxes filled with munchies and fresh fruits and vegetables and several water bottles kept cool by ice. Ladybug looked him questioningly as he done this for, again, three days.

“Any plans, bugaboo?” He asked.

“None; Jeez, where are these snacks from? They’re all fruits with spices.”  She said picking up a piece of watermelon with spicy powder on it.

“Gato Negro’s sister pretty much gives me an hour long lecture if I don’t take snacks.” He replied.

“Do you feel awkward about them knowing?”  She asked.

“I can’t really. It kind of feels stress relieving because they agreed to help cover for me and I really like his sister; she’s like a mom.”

“Oh. That must be nice. Why all the spicy food thought?”

“They’re Mexican. They like spices on everything as Gato Negro says. I think I saw one of them add a lot of hot sauce onto their soup.”

“I see.”

“Oooh Gato snuck in some Mexican candy!”

**** 

Aaron looked at Maria with a frown as she washed the dishes for the fourth time that day. He could see it on her face. The bags under her eyes, the shaky movement, and the obvious dizziness all practically screamed to him telling him that she was having a severe anxiety attack. He knew it was probably really bad since she was avoiding their father like the plague. She hadn’t done that since _the incident_. God, how he hated thinking about that day.  It haunted him still; his father standing over them in the form of a screaming beast, the flashes of red, and the blood.

He watched his father with intensity. The man seemed to know what was up seeing as he always sent someone to give him the all clear before entering the room. It was weird. Years ago, his father didn’t believe in people having mental disorders and then he had been diagnosed with depression after a near fatal stunt in college which then brought up the question of everyone else. Maria had anxiety that bordered on OCD and Arturo had both and Dyslexia.

He shut his eyes again trying to figure how to make things less tense. Things hadn’t been this bad since Adalina had admitted she was pregnant out of wedlock (that was a glorious disaster which he still had no idea how they managed to survive).

“You’re thinking too much.” His grandmother said pulling him into a hug. “Ay mijo, you can’t handle this can you.”

“No.” He said quietly gladly taking the affection from the old woman. “I don’t like this.”

“Mijo, just because your sister is able to handle it well doesn’t mean that it won’t sneak up on you.” Grandma Rosa said hugging him harder. “I’m worried about you; your depression might start acting up.”

“It’s fine.” He said.

“No it’s not.” She huffed. “I don’t want you all hurting. I know this brings back bad memories.”

Aaron nodded and hugged his grandmother closer.

****

Maria was trying to keep together but she couldn’t stop the heavy chest, the back pains, the loss of will to move, or anything from showing itself. She was sleepy most of the time and she wanted to hide in her room but she had to stick to her lies and make sure no one found out Adrien’s secret.

She took another breath. Her body was on the verge of shutting down and she needed to sleep. She took a step back from the dishes and decided it would be best if she forced herself to lie down.  Her body was not well enough and her mind was not stable enough for being awake.

“Mija…?” She heard her mother call.

“Hmm…?” Maria replied.

“Why don’t you, me, Ada, Luci, and your grandma go to your room and relax?” the older woman said walking up to her and hugging her. “You need a distraction.”

“No, I have to clean and make dinner and then tell Adrien he should put on sunscreen in an hour.” Maria replied.

“Maria…” Her mother said softly resting her head on Maria’s shoulder. “You’re not okay, right now.”

“Adrien needs someone to be strong for him…” Maria whispered.

“I know but you need someone to be strong for you.” Her mother whispered.

“Mom…”

“I know I don’t really understand how your anxiety works and that my methods of assurance can only do so much but… I don’t want to leave you all alone, Adrien shouldn’t be up there for hours alone, you should be able to rest fine, and your brothers shouldn’t be alone either. You all need someone in these times. “

Maria shook as she moved to hug her mother back letting a few a tears fall. “Mommy I’m scared… Everything was okay… and now it’s not.” She whimpered burying her face into her mother’s shoulder.

“It happens, Mija.”

**** 

Suzanna hugged her daughter close feeling just as helpless her. She really didn’t know what else to do. She just wanted her daughter to be better and happy.

“Mjia,” She began. “Maybe after this… you should come home for a bit to calm down. I don’t think you’re going to get better staying here.”

“Mom, I don’t … I can’t.” Maria said.

“You need to. I know you mija. If you don’t get away from what’s causing the source you won’t be able to calm down at all.” Suzanna insisted. “Just come to LA for the rest of the month to calm yourself down and then you can come back here.”

“Mom...” Maria said. “I can’t go. I don’t even. I. Mommy I don’t know what to do.”

“For now you’re gonna go relax and I’m gonna go get Adrien.”

“No!” Suzanna was surprised by the harsh movements her daughter had made to push her away. “I-I.. He’s awkward around you guys and he won’t understand you. I’ll go get him.”

Suzanna stood their confused as Maria ran off carefully avoiding AJ at all costs but still manage to hit everything on the way to the front door of the apartment.

*****  

Ladybug watched the monster carefully. It seemed to be distracted by something inside. She looked at the building more carefully, trying to figure out what it was and how it could help them. She really couldn’t make out what it was but she knew it was probably important to the Agreste house.

“It’s a portrait.” Chat said.

“How do you know?” Ladybug asked with a flabbergasted look.

“I know the Agrestes well enough to know a thing or two about their house.” He replied with a grin.

“What? Really?” Ladybug asked.

“No telling about our private lives.” He replied with a teasing grin.

“Oh right.” She giggled.

“But yeah I’m pretty sure that’s a portrait. I think it might be the one they actually like.” He said turning serious.

“Is that bad?” She asked.

“Not sure, it’s calming him.” He replied.

She looked over and she noted that Chat was right. The beast was incredibly calm staring at it. She wasn’t sure what to make of it but it seemed to be a clue in her mind. 

“Do you think we can get closer without being caught?”

“It all depends honestly. It seems distracted but I don’t know for how long.”

Ladybug sighed in defeat. “I wish this superhero gig came with an instruction manual.” She said.

“We have Gato Negro on our side but I feel like if we ask him it might put you in an awkward position.” He said looking at her.

“Why?” She asked curiously.

“He knows what the miraculouses look like without the kwamis inside of them.” Chat Noir said. “Your identity might be compromised… and I know you don’t want to reveal or be discovered.”

Ladybug looked down contemplating it for a moment. “… If. If we can get some advice and figure it out, I wouldn’t mind either of you knowing.” She said.

“I don’t want you to feel forced to tell anyone if you don’t want too.”

Ladybug smiled putting a hand on his cheek. “it’s not being forced. Besides, it should help us both in the long run.” She knew that day would come eventually. It was easier just to reveal who she was than live in fear of someone knowing the truth. A part of her felt relieved at the idea of him knowing. Gato Negro seemed trustworthy enough, at least, and she trusted Chat with her life. It would be fine. Her smile fell as conflicting emotions crossed her face.

He smiled putting his hand over hers and gently moving it away from his face so he could kiss the back of it. She felt her face turn red. He always did that. It was a simple act never meant to be more than something more than a comfort as she had noticed. It always seemed to work but it also got her flustered if only for a moment.

“Thanks.” She said softly.

“Anything to make my lady comfortable.” He replied.

“Do you have an address I could meet you at?” She asked.

“Yeah. Let me text it to you. We need a code for when you come so I know it’s you! Hm…”

“What about something about a group project?”

“What type of group project?”

“Um Math?”

“Excellent!”

“So I just say I’m there for the math Project. Who do I ask for?”

There was a long silence. “Ask for someone named Adrien.” He said with a bit of a tremble in his voice. “We’ll meet up tomorrow at ten, I’ll send you the details later.”

With that he was gone. Ladybug felt her heart drop as he left. Could… was. She seemed to dread the next day more than ever.

*****  

Maria stood on the top of the roof pacing back and forth waiting for Adrien to show up. She let out a sigh of relief when he landed in front of her and de-transformed.

She pulled the boy into a bone crushing hug. “You’re okay!” She breathed.

“I am.” He replied hugging her back. “It… it still hurts seeing him like that.”

“I know, I know.” She replied.

“Me and ladybug are gonna meet up here out of costume.” Adrien said as he tightened his hug. “Do you think she’ll be disappointed that her best friend is me?”

“No, honey, no. I think she’ll love you more. You even said you two are best friends.” Maria replied. “Did you eat, how much fighting did you get done?”

“We managed to keep the akuma contained and it calmed down looking at the portrait in the dining room.” Adrien replied. “And we ate like good little superheroes should.”

Maria sighed in relief pulling away. “Come on, chaparo, you need to eat.” She said.

“chaparo?” He asked confused.

“Sorry I’m used to calling all my little brothers that.” She explained with a sheepish smile.

“What does it mean?”

“It’s Spanish for shorty.”

“I’m taller than you!”

“I’m older so your argument is invalid, chiquito!”

“Just…. Ah! You win this round!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again thank you! I am sorry I don’t have a definitive posting schedule but I will try to post more often if possible. 
> 
> Please leave any thoughts :D


	26. Chapter 26

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man oh man. It’s been a while since I’ve updated this, lowkey I lost motivation for this and recently I got a beautiful lengthy comment on this on AO3 and that seemed to give me the push I needed. 
> 
> so this chapter is an important filler that dicusses the past of one Aaron Jose Balboa the Fourth.

Adrien was pacing. He tried not to but he couldn’t help it. He felt his heart rushing as he waited for the door to signal the true identity of his lady.

Maria broke his pacing by forcing him to sit down.

“Breakfast.” She ordered gently.

He looked up at her slightly worried. She looked every bit as tired as she sounded.

“You too.” He said quietly.

“I will.” She nodded.

Maria served him and then sat down herself. He stared at his food completely mystified by the fact that the eggs and ham were mixed together but it wasn’t an omelet. He watched his food intently before picking at it. _Why does the food always feel a little spicy?_ He wondered.

“Yo, Adrien.” He heard Arty call.

“Hmm?” He replied looking up from his meal.

“Some girl named Marinette is here to work on a math project with you.” He said.

Adrien’s heart dropped for a second nodding dumbly. “I’ll go greet her.” He said getting up out of his seat.

He practically ran, hitting a few things on the way, before getting to the elevator. Somehow, the world was both confusing and made a perfect amount of sense in that moment. When he got off the elevator, he saw her, standing there looking nervous. And before he could think, he was hugging her.

“Adrien?” She asked in that quiet musical voice of hers.

“It’s you. It’s always been you.” He whispered, so full of joy. It had been the first time in days since he’d felt truly happy.

“Kitty?” she whispered, sounding shocked.

“Yeah, my lady?” He smiled hugging her close and nuzzling her for her warmth.

“It’s you.” She said.

“It always has been.” He replied.

***    
Marinette could hardly breathe at the realization of her who partner was but at the same time it was the most wonderful thing in the world. She hugged him back hard, letting herself melt into his hold.

“It’s you.” He whispered over and over like a mantra.

“It’s you.” She said pulling back softly. She looked up at him and gasped at what she was. He was tired and sad but his eyes seemed to shine brighter than she had seen in ages. “Kitty, is everything okay?”

 

“It will be.” He smiled tiredly.

She moved a hand to his cheek. “Of course, it will.” She promised.

He moved his hand over hers and moved it away so that he could kiss it gently. Marinette blushed heavily at the action, feeling like her heart would burst at any given second.

“I know, my lady.” He whispered against her skin.

She swooned. It was too hard not to. It wasn’t every day you found out your crime fighting partner was also the prince charming of your dreams. And seeing those two personalities mesh was enough to drive anyone crazy. Especially her.

***

Adrien smiled as he brought her up, holding her by the waist as they walked careful for her not to nearly faint, again. He was rather curious as to what prompted that but decided not to ask. “Maria’s family isn’t too bad. I can really only speak with her and two of her brothers. I don’t know English or Spanish.” He laughed.

“I know English.” She smiled, his heart practically jumped and he was about ready to kiss her, in all honesty.

“That’s great.” He replied with a nodded as they came to the door.

He opened the door glad to see that everyone else was occupied with their own business, save for Maria who had a grin on her face.

“Marinette is here for um math.” He smiled.

“Remember, improper fractions are when the bigger one is top.” Arty called.

Maria burst out laughing, leaving Adrien confused.

Aaron on the other hand seemed mortified. “Go do work on the roof!” He insisted shooing them away.

*** 

Aaron smiled as he got to the roof watching as the two teens babbled excitedly. It was nostalgic in a sad kind of way. Once he had been in their position, standing on top of the world with everything he could dream off, and so much more. They seemed so engrossed in their conversations, laughing happily, and seeming so carefree. It was a really bitter thought when the reality of it all hit. They were teenagers, just as he had once been, and yet they now took the weight of their world on their shoulders. 

“Hey.” He called.

Both of them turned to him.

“Hi…” the girl smiled nervously.

“No need to be shy, my name is Aaron Jose Balboa the fourth, and I used to be El Gato Negro.”

The girl relaxed a bit. “I’m Marinette Dupain-Cheng.” She said.

“It’s an honor to meet you.” He smiled. “Why don’t you two sit. We have a lot to talk about.”

The two teens sat down in front of him.

“Um… I have a question but I’m not sure if it’s too much.” Marinette said quietly. She reminded him of Maria at that age, awkward with a great hidden fierceness.

“Ask away.” He said with a nod.

“What… um. Why is the previous Ladybug not allowed near the Miraculous?”

Aaron sighed. “I’ll be right back to answer your question. I just need some alcohol.” He said seriously.

“You don’t have to answer.” She said quietly.

“Yes I do. It’s gonna help you understand the situation a whole lot better.” He said getting up.

***

Marinette looked at Tikki. “I’m guessing it was bad.” She asked.

Tikki nodded looking as Aaron walked away. “It’s not something any of us like to remember.” She mumbled nuzzling close Marinette.

“I’m sorry.” Marinette said cradling the Kwami close. Marinette regretted asking that question the moment she saw the way Tikki seemed to be on the verge of tears, how Plagg seemed to get so angry, and how Aaron seemed so sad, as if a part of him was lost. Her curiosity had gotten the better of her.

“Don’t be sorry.” The tiny black kwami said. “It was unfortunately, unavoidable.”

Marinette shrunk.

Her negative thoughts were quickly pulled by a comforting hug from Adrien. A wave of guilt washed over her in that moment. She was the one who should have been comforting him. He was the one who had to fight his father, after all. She moved a hand away from Tikki to hold Adrien close. It felt so strange to have the power of all the good luck in the world and somehow be so powerless to those who mattered to her.

*****

Adrien hugged Marinette close and took a deep breath. Hugging her had been selfish on his part. Lately he had been desperate for physical contact because that seemed to be the only thing that calmed him down. Marinette responded and he was grateful for it. Everything was too much for him. He didn’t know if he could handle much more.

His thoughts were stopped by the return of Aaron who came with a bottle and glass in hand. He sat up a bit straighter, hugging Marinette close.

“Let’s talk about Joseph Noriega.” Aaron said pouring himself a drink. “The previous Ladybug, or as Los Angeles knew him, La Mariquita. Oh man where do I begin? Let’s see… Oh right. I was fourteen when I took on the Miraculous and this time I was discovering things about myself that I didn’t want to admit where there. Joseph and I were best friends, and I was pretty much in love with the guy. Tikki and Plagg have a thing where they choose people who are practically born to be together forever.”

***

“No we don’t!” Plagg protested.

Aaron wanted to laugh. He took a drink and continued with his tale. “We didn’t know that the other had become a superhero and we worked side by side and it was amazing. As El Gato Negro, I was free. I could flirt with another boy easily and I didn’t have to be afraid of being called some slur.”

“You could be who you really were.” Adrien said softly.

“Yeah.” Aaron nodded. “Six months into, we found out who the other was and it was scary but it was also when we had our first kiss. We were … I was his secret and he was mine. I thought his family wouldn’t accept me and I knew my parents weren’t… they weren’t accepting of it. The only reason I felt safe at home was because Maria had becoming a huge gay rights activist. I never knew what triggered it but having someone who thought I wasn’t unnatural at home made a big difference, it made it easier to fight for what was right.”

“Your sister sounds like she’s your best friend.”  Marinette smiled.

“Maria is my best friend.” Aaron smiled. “But yeah. It went on that way until we defeated El Zorro. Who is the fox miraculous.”

“Wait what? How did—.” Marinette began.

“Each Kwami is capable of being used for good or evil. Corrupted ones can create Akumas. Ones who are free of corruption can cleanse them. The fox miraculous could create akumas in a similar manner to the pied piper. They would play a beat that would cause someone to go into a trance.” He explained.

“Wait really?” Adrien looked surprised.

“Yeah… the girl behind it she had a crush on me and once akumatized my father. She wanted to hurt our family, and she almost did but we managed.” Aaron said. “Joseph became different after that last battle. He realized he liked the power… he was corrupting himself. He hired gang members to attack schools, provoked others to fight each other, got people to start racial wars, hell he paid off corrupt cops. Eventually… I had to fight him and I found out that he had been out to his family for a while and he had a serious boyfriend. It was a shitty moment.”

“He lost his way…” Tikki whispered. Aaron held out a hand to the small kwami so that she could cry.

“He became corrupted and I had to stop him.  We managed to do it and wiped his memory of it all… but it became too much. I went off the furthest college I could and he lived his life never really paying for his wrong doings.” Aaron said sadly.

“What happened to you after?” Adrien asked.

“I got wild. I partied hard, did drugs, anything that would black out the memories. I almost overdosed.” Aaron admitted quietly. “My dad came to get me and I admitted the stuff about my sexuality… It was the first time in a year that someone had hugged me because they loved me.”

“Oh Aaron… I’m so sorry I made you relive that.” Marinette said.

“It’s fine.” Aaron smiled. “it’s the first time I’ve told this story to kids your age. My brothers don’t even know about the overdosing.”

“Will you tell them?” Adrien asked.

“One day.” He nodded. “But you know what, we got something more important to do.”

“We know.” The teens nodded.

****

Plagg nuzzled up to Aaron and cursed himself quietly. He hadn’t known that one of his kittens had been so hurt and he hadn’t been there to help him.

“So what you guys are dealing with are the worst kind of Akuma.” Aaron said, petting Plagg gently.

“What do you mean?” He heard the bug girl ask.

“It means, Gabriel Agreste is completely conscious but his body is out of his control and whoever did this, knew him personally.” Aaron said. “So here’s the plan…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed! I promise next chapter will end the Akumatization of gabriel agreste!


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